BIG BAY - The Rapid River Lions Club is hosting its annual Bay Cliff Health Camp benefit dinner Thursday at the Rapid River Lions Clubhouse. Social hour will begin at 5 p.m., with dinner at 6:30. A program will follow at 7:30. Dinner tickets are $9 for adults, $4 for children 12 and under, and will be available at the door.
Venison meatballs and turkey with all the trimmings will be served.
Activities will include in-house raffles, a live auction with Col. Dan Samson, and a 50/50 drawing. All proceeds will benefit Bay Cliff Health Camp.
For those who are unfamiliar with Bay Cliff Health Camp and its services, it is a non-profit, non-denominational summer therapy camp. Its primary mission is to serve children and adults with physical disabilities during a two-month therapy session. Children with orthopedic, speech, hearing and vision disabilities attend the camp to work toward their goal of living a more independent and fulfilling life. They work regularly with on-site therapists, who also give of their time for the children. Bay Cliff does sponsor a week-long recreation and therapy session for adults with physical disabilities, as well.
The camp's Web site describes Bay Cliff as a place "where children and adults with physical disabilities learn to believe in themselves, strive for fuller lives, and realize their dreams." This goal is reached annually through the warmth and caring shown consistently by staffers and camp counselors.
According to Tim Bennett, Bay Cliff Health Camp director, the camp serves approximately 180 children each summer and has been in operation for more than 75 years. "We're really the only camp that offers therapy," said Bennett. "The kids are really here for the summer - about two months," he added.
During that two-month period, such practices as etiquette, personal care, grooming and hygiene are a point of focus. Combined with boating, swimming and other outdoors programs, the result is that the children learn to be successful in life. Each year, the campers are even treated to a prom at Thunder Bay Lodge.
"There is no other camp like Bay Cliff in the country," said Bennett, who is proud of how much people have given and sacrificed over the years to make Bay Cliff "an awesome place."
Staff members numbering 125 live at the camp during summer. "These people come here because they're thinking of working with children with disabilities. What a life-changing experience they have. It's like being a single parent with four, five or six children with disabilities," said Bennett. "People who leave here are changed people who have a whole new perspective on life. They suddenly appreciate all their mom and dad have ever done for them."
Of the campers, most are Upper Peninsula residents. In 2008, more than 20 children were from the Escanaba area alone.
Bay Cliff is currently seeking employees to staff its eight-week therapy camp for children with physical disabilities. The 2009 summer program schedule is as follows:
Unit Leaders: June 9 - Aug. 12
Returning Staff: June 13
New Staff: June 14 - Aug. 9
Campers: June 20/21 - Aug. 8
The minimum age requirement for employment at the camp is 18, and each staff member must have attended at least one year of college in order to apply for most positions. Obvious bonuses of working at Bay Cliff include salary, room and board. An unexpected bonus is gaining the experience of the lifetime.
Approximately 200 people have traditionally turned out for the annual Bay Cliff fund-raising dinner, according to the Rapid River Lions Club records. In addition to being a fun night for all in attendance, the evening offers hope for disabled children through donations given at the dinner. For those unable to attend, however, contributions to the camp may be made anytime via e-mail, postal mail or through any Rapid River Lions Club member.
To date, over 2,000 people support Bay Cliff Health Camp through monetary donations. At present, these donations are helping workers continue to winterize the camp for year-round use.
Donations from other Lions Clubs and other service organizations have been extremely generous, Bennett said. In addition to the service organizations, individual donors have also been very giving. One donor, for example, paid for the camp road to be blacktopped.
This year, after only three years, the Rapid River Lions Club members paid off their five-year commitment of $25,000 for Bay Cliff's building campaign. Over and above that amount, they have given $42,000 throughout the past nine years.
To assist Bay Cliff staff in their endeavors to help handicapped children, send a donation by mail to Bay Cliff Health Camp, P.O. Box 310, Big Bay, MI 49808, or by e-mail to baycliffhc@aol.com. For more information and a complete tour of the camp, visit www.baycliff.org.
"As a nonprofit organization, we rely completely on the kindness and generosity of donors - everyday people like you and me," said Bennett. "We are never disappointed in the outpouring of caring," he added.
Asked what the best thing about Bay Cliff is, Bennett stated, "Bay Cliff is great because it's a place of hope and unconditional love where the children are the most important people in the world; it's a place where people open their hearts and fall in love with the children; it's a place where dreams come true."
