Helping get Victory Junction Gang Camp ready for kids is a great volunteer experience.
It also helps you realize you are only a small cog in the wheel. And that if you are healthy and have healthy children, you are blessed.
Looking at the camp, it doesn’t seem different than any other summer camp for children, yet, it is. VJGC is medically-safe for children with a wide variety of challenges, both physical and mental.
It doesn’t matter if you are in a wheelchair. Or in need of dialysis. Or taking chemotherapy. Those are all accommodated. There are doctors and nurses on-site 24/7, either on staff full time or on a volunteer basis.
The Official NASCAR Members Club is a part of preparing the camp for kids, scheduled to arrive on June 12 this year. Members meeting for their annual national convention have worked on cleaning up the landscaping, preparing backpacks for the children and this year, putting bug resistant bedding on each bed in camp. There are 18 cabins with 18 beds each, and members took care of every one of them. The members come from California, Nevada, Idaho, New Hampshire, West Virginia, North Carolina, Florida and seemingly all points in-between.
They are part of the more than 47,000 hours of volunteerism given to the camp in a year’s time. For their time, the ONMC members received lunch of fried chicken, hush puppies, green beans and sweet tea, plus a tour of the camp from the staff.
The dream of Adam Petty, great-grandson of Lee, grandson of Richard and son of Kyle, was to see this place constructed. A racer like 3 generations before him, Adam visited Camp Boggy Creek in Florida, and that put a burning desire in his heart to see a camp formed in North Carolina, and set about to do so.
In the introductory video about VJGC, Pattie said when they first approached the CEO of Petty Enterprises they were told the camp would bankrupt the company.
Adam replied, no, it wouldn’t. “You don’t understand. I serve a big God.”
After his death in an on-track crash during practice at New Hampshire International Speedway on May 12, 2000, his parents Kyle and Pattie worked tirelessly to see their son’s vision was accomplished.
Since it’s opening on June 20, 2004, more than 14,000 campers from all 50 states and four foreign countries have come though the gates.
The children have conditions including, but not limited to bleeding disorders, burn survivors, cancer, craniofacial anomalies, gastrointestinal disorders, genetic disorders, heart disease, immunologic disorders, kidney, lung, skin and Sickle Cell diseases, neurologic disorders, Spina Bifida and transplant recipients, in addition to blindness, Autism, deafness, Diabetes and Down Syndrome.
You can learn more about the camp at it’s website. You can also apply to volunteer for a day or a week, or apply for your child to attend camp. There is no cost to your family for your child to go to VJGC. The $2,500 to send one child to camp is underwritten by gifts both large and small.
You can see videos about the camp, activities, special guests from both NASCAR and the entertainment industry at www.victoryjunction.org
No comments:
Post a Comment