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Troop F Sunny Day Camp offers opportunities for special needs individuals

By Pat Crossley 5 min read

HUGHESVILLE -- Guests at the first Troop F Sunny Day Camp were treated to learning about all types of emergency and safety personnel and vehicles and even having a visit with two of the Pennsylvania State Police horses all under sunny skies at the Hughesville Fairgrounds on Wednesday.

Sponsored by Troop F Communications Service Department and Office of Communication, the camp was open to children and adults with special needs or disabilities and Special Olympics participants along with immediate family and caregivers.

"Sunny Day Camp is a camp, kind of based off of our Camp Cadet program that is statewide, but for those who have some sort of special needs or disability or participate in the Special Olympics. That way, they're physically able to do some of this stuff that maybe at Camp Cadet they weren't able to participate in," said Trooper Andie Jacobs.

"We brought a bunch of members of the community, a lot of law enforcement and other members. That way the participants can really interact, they can pick up the police equipment, get on some of the bigger buses, do activities through like UPMC and Geisinger and really just have that interaction with the community," she said.

About 55 people had registered to participate in the camp which was open free to all ages six and up.

There were also vendors available with information for caregivers plus each participant was given what one guest called his "bling" bracelets and badges.

What Camp Sunny Day offered was an opportunity for the participants to explore at their own pace, unlike Camp Cadet which is a more rigorous program.

"This is definitely at your own pace. You can stop and see each vendor, where at Camp Cadet you're waking up early doing morning PT. It's a lot of physical activities that might not be for everyone," Jacobs said.

"We try to bring all the people that come to visit Camp Cadet, like the SERT (Special Emergency Response Team) vehicles -- stuff that comes to visit Camp Cadet -- to do a presentation. We try to bring everyone that would come to Camp Cadet here, so all the participants can still get that experience," she explained.

Although this was the first Sunny Day Camp for Troop F, camps are held regularly by PSP throughout the state.

"Our area has never had one before and we just wanted to open that up. Especially since we're actually the biggest troop in the whole state. So we really wanted to give the people of this big area the opportunity too," she said.

"We've had people from Tioga County come down all the way, Line Mountain. Everyone kind of came and it's awesome that it's definitely opened up to a wide demographic," she said.

Jeremy Owen, of Mansfield, was among a group from Tioga County. Sporting a Junior Cadet hat, said that he had talked to the police officers and that they were "nice people." He was looking forward to visiting the PSP helicopter and a motorcycle that was on display.

Hope Finfrock, of Partners in Progress, an adult training facility in Tioga County, accompanied Jeremy's group. She noted that most of the members of the group worked in a vocational program.

"I have five staff who are out every day taking them to different museums, opportunities, fairs, swimming, hiking, you name it, they're doing it," Finfrock said.

Also in Jeremy's group was Chase Bowen, of Wellsboro, who has worked at Highland Chocolates for 14 years. For Chase, like many of the participants interviewed, the prisoner transport from the Lycoming County Sheriff's Department was a highlight of the day.

Although Chase thought the transport was "fun," he said that he hoped he never had to take a ride in it.

"A lot of the children asked questions about how many do you fit in here? Why do you put them in there? Things like that," said Chief Deputy Eric Spiegel of the Sheriff's department.

The groups are then allowed to sit in the vehicle to give them a view of what it's like to be there, Spiegel said.

"Then they were like, we don't want to do anything. We don't ever want to be in here," Spiegel said.

For the Williamsport City Police who had brought their S.W.A.T. vehicle to the event, the camp offered an opportunity to let people see what they do.

"I don't think there's a lot of people that really know what we do, so it helps give a little explanation. And, just the interaction with the police and people because we're normal people just like they are," said Agent Chris Salisbury, with the city police department.

Salisbury had also brought the police department's drone, which he said was a big hit.

Participants and their families and caregivers could receive all types of information at the event, such as pedestrian safety from Safe Kids Lycoming, something important as Halloween approaches. There were also Safe Kids ID kits for fingerprint and DNA collection.There were bicycle helmets being given out as well as other safety information through the Safe Kids Coalition and Safe Driver Task Force.

All the items received by participants were offered free through donations from the community, Jacobs said.

Although this was the first Sunny Day Camp offered by Troop F, Jacobs indicated that this is going to be an annual event with next planned to have "more vendors and more smiles."

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