A group of NSU Fort Myers Sharks spend their spring break having a rewarding experience at Camp Boggy Creek
“Shake your bushy tail is just one of the many memories I brought home with me this past week” said Rachel Eisenberg, NSU Fort Myers Nursing student after reflecting about her experience at Camp Boggy Creek. While many students were soaking up the sun in Mexico, a group of NSU Fort Myers Sharks were soaking up sun within the grounds of a little place called Camp Boggy Creek. Camp Boggy Creek is a “hole in the wall camp” founded by Paul Newman back in 1991 (Camp Boggy Creek, 2009). Each week the camp hosts a different illness and during the week of March 16th to 20th the camp hosted children and their families affected by Spina Bifida and KOVAC. Spina Bifida is an illness where the spinal cord never formed fully in certain areas, which could lead to paralyzation from those areas down. On the other hand, KOVAC stands for kids on ventilator assisted care.
To make this camp possible volunteers are called in to assist, that’s where the NSU Fort Myers students came into play. Volunteers ranged from Pennsylvania, to Indianapolis, all the way to the NSU Fort Myers Sharks. The volunteers included nursing students Rachel Eisenberg, Jessica Maitre, and Dan Rosario, along with medical students William Horneman, Robert Koch, Darya Blagerman, Tyler House, Anna Marie Lowell, Joseph Geffen, George Wong, Greg Hammett, and Kristina Skinner.
Rachel described her experience by saying “I think I can speak for all the volunteers when saying people on the outside will never understand, but people on the inside can’t even explain. Camp Boggy Creek took my breath away; it is amazing what they do for these children and their families. They provide a week or weekend for free, for these kids to feel normal, and for them and their families to forget all their worries and battles for a few days. The smiles on the kid’s faces when they were dancing made spending every moment of your spring break volunteering worth it!”
As volunteers the students were either activity pals or family pals. They helped with arts and crafts, set up and participated in a carnival, went to swimming, boating and fishing, or woodshop with their families, and some of them even got up on stage and sang with them for the annual talent show. The adapted equipment, to the events put on for these children and families, and teaching all the volunteers the dances and songs, such as shake your bushy tail was truly amazing. “Camp Boggy Creek was an opportunity of a lifetime, something I will never forget! It taught me one the greatest life lessons, to be thankful for everything you have, and it also gave me some great new friends. This was surely a spring break that will never be forgotten!”said Rachel. For more information about this opportunity, contact Rachel Eisenberg at re258@nova.edu.
Citation: Camp Boggy Creek (2009) Camp boogy creek-For florida’s seriously ill children-Orlando, Florida http://www.boggycreek.org/2006/home.asp
