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Camp ClapHans
Set to Break Ground
Curt Peters, director
and CEO of the J. D. McCarty Center for children
with developmental disabilities in Norman, announced
that groundbreaking for construction of the
Camp ClapHans summer camp project will take
place on Thursday, October 16, at 1:00 p.m.
at the camp site location on the McCarty Center's
80-acre campus.
Tim Sortore, vice president
of operations with Key Construction, has been
selected to manage the construction of this
$4.5 million project.
Camp ClapHans will be Oklahoma's
first summer camp specifically designed and
built for children with special needs. The main
camp facility will be composed of four cabins
that will house eight campers, eight volunteers
called "camp buddies" and two cabin
counselors each; three volunteer cabins housing
12 boys, 12 girls and eight adults; a headquarters
building with offices for the camp director,
camp medical staff and dispensary; a mess hall
and an arts and crafts barn.
The camp will be open to
kids age 8 to 16. Camp activities will include
a zero entry swimming pool with splash pad water
features, a ropes course, arts & crafts,
archery, horseback riding, fishing, boating,
a specially designed tree house and a camp fire
site for nightly story telling and camp songs.
Camp ClapHans and the mess
hall building are named in memory of Sammy Jack
Claphan. Sammy Jack, as he was known to his
friends and family, was a mountain of a man
standing six-foot-six and weighing 285 pounds.
He played high school football in Stilwell,
Oklahoma where he was recruited to play offensive
tackle for the University of Oklahoma (1974-1978).
When he graduated from OU with a degree in special
education he was drafted into the National Football
league where he played for the Cleveland Browns
and the San Diego Chargers.
Off the field, Sammy Jack
was a gentle giant. He found life after football
as a special education teacher in his home state.
He really liked kids, particularly his special
needs students. "Sammy Jack and I were
teammates at OU and we trained together during
the off season when we were in the pros,"
said Uwe von Schamann, director of development
for the McCarty Center. "When he died,
some of my teammates and I were looking for
a way to honor him. I approached the hospital's
administration about naming a cabin after Sammy
Jack and they approved. Later, it was decided
to name the entire camp after him as well as
the mess hall."
Sammy Jack Claphan died
unexpectedly in 2005 at the age of 45.
Camp ClapHans will be located
in the southwest corner of the McCarty Center's
80-acre campus and will sit on the west shore
of an 18-acre lake. "A key element to the
success of this camp will lie with volunteers,"
explained Vicki Kuestersteffen, deputy director
for the McCarty Center. "A majority of
the camp staff will be composed of volunteers.
We will need 32 camp buddies each week. Camp
buddies will need to be at least 17-years old
and they will be paired with a camper. We will
be looking for 12 boys and 12 girls ages 14
to 16 to be camp gofers. These volunteers will
help in the mess hall, with activities and with
some light housekeeping and maintenance work
around the camp. We see this volunteer opportunity
as a learning and experience building position
for our future camp buddies. We will be looking
for up to eight adults volunteers to take on
some leadership roles as well as medical staff
volunteers. That's 66 volunteers per week of
camp times eight weeks of camp is 528 volunteers
that we want to help make the camping experience
at Camp ClapHans a good one for the campers."
Financing to build this
camp comes from a combination of fundraising
and revenue generated by the McCarty Center,
but there is still money to be raised to complete
project. "First we have an on-going effort
to raise money for a scholarship endowment fund,"
explained von Schamann. "We have plans
to help qualifying families pay the camp tuition
by offering quarter, half, three-quarter and
full scholarships to camp."
"Second we need to
raise about $850,000 to complete the Sammy Jack
mess hall," von Schamann added.
During the ground breaking
ceremony a new Camp ClapHans logo will be introduced
for the first time. "The logo is four interlocking
arms in earth tone colors," explained Kuestersteffen.
"The interlocking arms symbolize strength,
unity, support and diversity. These are all
elements that we hope our campers get when they're
at Camp ClapHans."
"The name Camp ClapHans
is in a typeface that resembles rough lumber
for a rustic camp look," Kuestersteffen
added.
Camp ClapHans is expected
to be open for its first campers in the summer
of 2010.
The J. D. McCarty Center
is Oklahoma's center of excellence in the care
and treatment of children with developmental
disabilities from birth to age 21. Founded in
1946, the hospital treated just one diagnosis…cerebral
palsy. Today the McCarty Center has treated
more than 70 different diagnoses in the developmental
disability category. The McCarty Center is the
only hospital of its kind in the state and in
an average year will see children from 70 of
Oklahoma's 77 counties.
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Camp ClapHans, a summer
camp project of the J. D. McCarty Center
in Norman, will host groundbreaking ceremonies
on Thursday, October 16, 2008, at 1:00 p.m.
on the campus of the McCarty Center. During
the activities the new Camp ClapHans logo
will be introduced. The four-interlocked
arms in earth tones symbolize the strength,
support, unity and diversity that Camp ClapHans
will offer its campers. Camp ClapHans is
scheduled to open in the summer of 2010.
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