Horizon Transport Enjoys ‘Tremendous’ Time at Care Camp – RVBusiness – Breaking RV Industry News
The Horizon Transport leadership team put action to their support of Care Camp and spent a half-day volunteering with campers on Thursday, June 5.
Rob Jackson, president and owner of Horizon Transport said the company has been supporting Care Camp Foundation financially since 2018, but this was the first time a team from Horizon went to the camp to work with the kids and he highly recommends it.
“The whole point of fundraising is so the kids can go to the camp for free. Not all the kids are actively in treatment, but for those who are, they have a medical facility at the camp so they can receive treatment. But it’s a chance for the kids who’ve had cancer to get away from the day-to-day and there’s very noticeable support for the kids — from the staff and from the other kids,” he said.
The Care Camp Foundation is a network of 140 week-long camps for kids battling cancer all over the US. The Horizon Transport team visited the regional camp, Watcha-Wanna-Do, held at the YMCA Camp Potawatomi in Wolcottville. This year’s camp was held June 1-6 and had 100 kids, 27 counselors and the camp director, Jennyfer Balkema.
Balkema said they hold the camp once a year, generally the first or second week of June. She said they’ve rented out Camp Potawatomi for 33 years. The resident camp is for children aged 7-high school graduation.
“We also have a Kinder camp for babies through age 7 and their families on Wednesdays,” she said.
Jackson said they arrived at 9 a.m. and everyone was gathered together to decide which one-hour activity to do — horseback riding, archery, zip lines, arts & crafts, yoga, drama, newsletter, cheer squad, origami and other indoor and outdoor sports. He said the Horizon volunteers spread out with the campers, helping however they could with the activities the kids chose. He said they did that for three activities and then everyone gathered for lunch, where groups of kids set the tables and camp counselors led them in sing-alongs.
Jackson said he helped with the horses — the kids couldn’t ride that morning because it was raining so, instead, they had a horse grooming competition. He said what he and the rest of the team found most enjoyable was just “being with the kids, getting to meet them and listen to their stories, supporting them and being in the camp environment.”
“It was tremendous for us as volunteers to get to go and support them. Smile, give hugs, and just enjoy time with them,” he said.
Balkema said they always welcome volunteers from any organization — this year they had employees from an insurance company and credit union come out as well as the Horizon group and she said staff from Parkview Cancer Institute provides lunch and served it on Friday.
“It’s fun to have businesses come out and see what the money (they’ve raised) can do for the kids and it’s neat to have them interact with the kids,” she said. As for the kids, she said, “Based on their reactions they really love having other people come out and play with them.”
“The best thing about being there is being in the moment and having the kids see you be there — they know we’re volunteers; we’re not counselors and we came to see them and be with them. Sometimes we can lose track of how important having an impact on one person can be.”
Jackson said before they left around 1:30 they passed out gift bags with Horizon frisbees and water bottles.
“We believe giving back is just as important as working hard each day at Horizon,” he said, and added that other companies volunteer too, so anyone thinking they’d like to get more hands on can contact the camp director Jennyfer Balkema at (260) 609-3155 or by email at info@[email protected].
Horizon will be holding its annual golf outing on June 9 to raise awareness with their drivers and Horizon will donate $10,000 to Care Camp Foundation on behalf of that event.
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