PDFTestimonials
"It is a very special place, for people with special needs"
My daughter is a mentally challenged 38 year old woman. She has been a camper at Camp Huntington more than 20 years. She started attending Camp Huntington when she was 12 years old. We had tried another camp for 2 years before we found Camp Huntington. The difference in camps had nothing to do with the physical appearance. The difference was in the entire camp philosophy.
At Camp Huntington, my daughter Cara, was never treated as a handicapped person. She was recognized as a person that had some different needs. She would return to us at the end of a summer having grown tremendously. Each summer she would gain socialization skills, verbal skills, develop inter-personal skills, as well as activity of daily living skills. She learned how to take part in group activities and after many years finally had the courage to go on stage and take part in a camp play. The smile on her face was our reward for having sent her to Camp Huntington.
She has never really fit into the real world, but Camp Huntington was and is the one place where she is completely accepted for herself. Over the years I have recommended the camp to many parents of children with special needs. It is a very special place, for people with special needs.
"Many thanks"
Our child clearly had another wonderful vacation at Camp Huntington! Came home with beautiful artwork, happy and healthy, and with stories of reading lots of books.
Very best to you, and many, many thanks from all of us.
Ginny
"Truly amazing"
Thank you all once again for giving my son a great time at camp, which also allowed my husband and I to regroup and relax a bit. You can easily see how much you all care for each of those kids. What a truly amazing thing, you all give up your entire summer to care for these kids. It can't be easy. Our son made friendships, memories, became more independent and developed a love for the Back Creek Boys!!
In the car on the way home, he talked about the Gluten Free Corn Flakes and Gluten Free Mac & Cheese he tried (he was so proud of himself), the worms he held, the jokes he told at the talent show, and of course, the Back Creek Boys. He said "I was their biggest fan! They actually threw their shirt at me!!!" He actually had tears in his eyes saying that he was going to miss the Back Creek Boys so much!!!
Thank you all from the bottom of my heart!!
Sincerely,
Chris
"Wonderful and safe experience"
Our son has been going to Camp Huntington for nine summers. He loves it and looks forward to going every summer. We love it because they do such a wonderful job with the children and their programs and activities. If you get on their website and look at some of the pictures of the campers and activities, you will instantly get a feeling for what kind of a place Camp Huntington is. The kids are learning, relaxing and having fun. They are growing as people and spreading their wings. The counselors are beyond terrific — smart, dedicated, knowledgeable, loving and caring people. We are always so impressed with the staff at the camp.
We recommend Camp Huntington to you and your children without hesitation. They truly provide a wonderful and safe experience for the children.
Sean and Caroline (Wilton, CT)
"Fantastic" camp experience
We would like to comment on our son’s first summer, and what we hope will be future summers, at Camp Huntington. Our son, 19, is a moderately high functioning, verbal autistic boy who attends special education classes at a public high school. Just before he came to camp, he had a Bar Mitzvah, and walked through the graduation ceremony at his school. We were so happy to have him accepted at Camp Huntington, and impressed that the camp director spent over 4 hours talking by phone to us about the camp and how he might fit in. We were also impressed by the directors and accreditation of the camp.
Then, our son went to camp, which was the icing on the cake to a very progressive year. He had a fabulous time at Camp Huntington. Being quite verbal and friendly, he was regarded fondly by staff and campers. We were called the first night of camp and reassured that he had settled in. About a week later, we were told that our son was acting out and testing the counselors. We discussed all of it with the case worker/program director and devised some strategies that worked well.
The camp premises are quite lovely and easy to get to. The grounds are beautiful, and the buildings are perfectly adequate for a camp of its size and its age.
The activities at camp were terrific, age and ability-appropriate. There was lots of arts and crafts, swimming (it was a very hot summer in the Catskills!) horseback riding, weekly campfires, 4th of July celebration, sports and games. The staff (who seemed like many were from the UK and South Africa, Australia) were outstanding! They "got" our son very quickly and knew how to redirect bad behaviors and enforce positive behaviors. They were warm and nurturing and got emotional on the day we picked him up (so did we!)
We received a complete report about one month after he left stating where he was on the goals we had provided, and things to work on. They welcomed him back with open arms! Our son can be non-compliant and aggressive, and the staff managed to keep all of those behaviors to a minimum, making his camp experience fantastic!
Thank you for having our son be a part of the Camp Huntington family!
Sincerely,
Amy and Bob (IL)
hahhah"A very happy boy"
My son's experience at Camp Huntington can simply be summed up in two ways. The first were the photos taken during the two sessions he attended. The photos that we would see showed a very happy boy! Second, the day we picked him up, he hadn't even gotten in our car when he asked if he could come back next year, something he had never said before! Knowing he was enjoying his stay brought a sense of relief to me because, as a parent, you can only hope you've made the right decision.
Lori G., River Vale, NJ
Looking so forward to returning next summer
Our son had the best summer experience to date! He was very sad to have to come home after such an eventful summer. He had numerous activities to keep him active and even lost some weight! The staff counselors could not have been better friends to him.
Looking so forward to returning next summer thanks to Dan the Camp Man and his excellent staff. Thank you from our grateful family!
Alice
