What is Camp Casey?

Kiwanis Camp Casey is a week long summer camp for children ages 6-17 with physical disabilities. For over 75 years, the North Central of Seattle Kiwanis Club has fully funded camp, making it free of charge to all campers. Camp takes place at Lions Camp Horizon in Blaine, WA. Transportation to and from camp is provided from north Seattle.

Who is Camp Casey For?

Camp is aimed to provide an experience for children with a primary physical disability. Common diagnoses of our campers include Cerebral Palsy, Spina Bifida, Muscular Dystrophy, amputees, and other physical limitations. This is one of the few camps that is specifically for children who are mildly to severely physically limited.

We do have a few safety requirements that must be met for a camper to be a good fit:

1. Camper can reliably communicate their care needs with at minimum a yes/no indication. This can include verbal speech, AAC device, gestures, or facial expressions.
2. Camper must use safe behavior with themself and others – as a volunteer run organization, we do not have training for our counselors on managing aggressive behaviors or eloping for children.

Camp manages many complex needs for our campers and we accept children using power wheelchairs, manual wheelchairs, walkers, crutches, etc. Our counselors are trained to take care of personal needs including transferring, bathing, dressing, and feeding for campers who may be dependent or require maximum assistance in these areas. We have a team of nurses who manage medical needs including medications, G-tube feedings, catheter and bowel programs.

While we understand that many cognitive differences exist alongside physical disabilities, camp is not appropriate for those children whose primary or only disability is social-emotional in nature, such as Autism, ADHD, global developmental delay, etc.

If you have questions on whether your camper would be a good fit, please feel free to email director@campcasey.org

What do Campers do at Camp Casey?

Activities at camp include swimming, trips to the beach and Fort Casey, campfires, a dance, talent show, carnival, parade, themed meals, and interest groups (cooking, science, drama, sports, etc.). There are often appearances by people such as the Mariner Moose, the Bubble Man, professional magicians, mad scientists, and many more. But don’t worry, we will also make sure you get plenty of free time to socialize with friends, get creative in the arts and crafts hall, and play games. Campers are given as little or as much assistance as needed to fully participate in all activities.

Other Camps

If our camp is not the right one for your child, Children’s Hospital maintains a list of camps that serve children with many types of special needs. You can view this online directory at:
http://cshcn.org/resources-contacts/summer-camp-directory