Et cetera : NCCC Team Travels to Camp Courageous and Northwestern Ohio

Gabe Dzurny and Cameron Chiles have fun with the mulch pile that was used to make a trail.

Oak 5 spent the first day of the project removing woody vegetation from the camp grounds

By: Tyler Wroblewski

On April 30, NCCC team Oak 5 piled into their van and embarked on a seven and a half hour journey to Whitehouse, Ohio, a small town in the Toledo metropolitan area, where they would serve Camp Courageous, a summer camp for individuals with developmental disabilities. Though this was the team’s second spike project, it was also their first away from the North Central Region Campus in Vinton, Iowa because the team served locally on their first project.

“I’ll admit I was apprehensive about coming here, at first, to be stranded at a camp with only my other teammates and a few staff,” said Natalia Mariano of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, “But spending so much time with everyone has turned out to be a really great experience and opportunity for bonding.”

Both on and off hours, Oak 5 has had numerous fun experiences to grow as a team, including playing games over dinner, campfires, and going to a minor league baseball game courtesy of their sponsors. More importantly, the team has bonded through their service work, knowing they serve an important cause.

The mission of Camp Courageous is to provide outdoor recreational activities to improve the quality of life for children and adults with developmental disabilities and allow them to pursue their own goals and interests. Oak 5 has been assisting to prepare and enhance the camp’s facilities for the start of the summer session. So far, the team has improved old trails and built a new trail, raked and mowed the grounds, restored the art cabin, and begun hooking up several remote cabins with electricity.

The team’s independent service projects in the area have included serving with the Toledo Botanical Garden, Oak Openings Metropark, and Toledo Seagate Food Bank. Stranded together, the team has enjoyed leaving their mark on Northwestern Ohio.