Camp Offers Summer Escape to Kids Who Need it Most

For most of the year, 18-year-old Reynaldo Parker has to deal with living in a group home in Bedford—apart from his sister and two younger brothers—while coping with bipolar disorder and depression.

But for six weeks, he’s a little more carefree. He connects with nature. He’s a role model for younger kids who are going through what he has experienced as a ward of the state.

He’s a counselor at Camp Morty, Westchester County’s summer sleep-away camp for boys and girls who live in foster homes or shelters, or receive financial assistance from the county’s Department of Social Services. Over 300 children and teens from all over the county— from Peekskill to Mt. Vernon to Yonkers—attend each summer during six one-week sessions.

On Tuesday, the advocacy group Friends of Westchester County Parks hosted a “friendship day” for campers, complete with camp shirts and ice cream sundaes.

After leaving the foster home he shared with his siblings, Parker was shuffled from the McQuade Children’s Services Center in upstate New York to the Abbott House, a residential home providing care and services for abused, neglected and abandoned children in Bedford. Two summers ago, he was reunited with his siblings at Camp Morty. At age 16, he was the oldest camper there.

“I’ve been in and out of the system most of my life,” Parker said. “I was not a nature person. But after my first stay here, my mind just opened. And then Andrea asked me to be a counselor so I came back,” he said, adding that his time there was the highlight of his year.

Andrea Gaviria, 26, is the camp’s director. During the rest of the year, she’s a physical education teacher at the Ursuline School in New Rochelle, where she lives. But for the last three summers, she’s cared for kids at Camp Morty and tried to find ways for each of them to find success.

“We help kids think outside of the box, to try things they wouldn’t otherwise try, to grab onto a successful experience they’ve had here and take it back with them.”

Campers are encouraged to try swimming, the ropes course or a zip line 75 feet up from the ground in order to gain confidence and self-esteem. It’s not as easy as it sounds. The campers bring with them fears, behavioral issues and anxieties that aren’t likely common at the town camp just down the road.

Gaviria said she’s seen children change over the course of a week from the camp experience.

“We do have behavioral situations, for example, where kids might bully other kids—but they learn to respect others, and themselves. They learn to not react so quickly to situations. Without a doubt, this camp has a lasting impact,” she said.

Shaquada Collymore-Bey, arrived at age 10, the summer after her father left her.

Now 15, she said she’s learned how to share and to have fun. A highlight for her has been her mastery of the ropes course. “I really didn’t want to do it at first, it was not my favorite. But now I can.” She’ll spend next week at Camp Morty with her brother, Victorious, when they are brought together by the camp’s siblings program, which reunites families split by foster care.

And though carefree fun may not come so easily to some—many of these kids have had to grow up in a hurry—the staff does their best to ensure it happens, said Joe Stout, executive director of the Friends of Westchester County Parks. He said the four-year-old camp, named for Morton Hyman, former long-time camp supervisor for county parks, depends on Friends’ membership fees, donations and federal funds.

“This camp is special because these children lead severely impoverished lives and these experiences will last a lifetime,” said Liz Bracken-Thompson, board chair of the Friends organization. “They learn have fun learning how to swim, canoe, hike—and they also learn social skills and make new friends for life.”

They also learn to care for each other.

Parker, who will attend Fox Lane High School’s alternative program this Fall after he returns to the Abbott House, said he hopes he can be a role model for younger campers.

“I had no one to take care of me and I didn’t have a lot of discipline,” said Parker. “So everything these kids are going through—I went through. I’m not here to be strict, but if I teach them to respect, now, we’re actually getting somewhere. And we can start to have fun.”