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Luke 14 Ministries, a group dedicated to celebrating and serving people living with disabilities, is looking for volunteers for its Camp Celebrate.

Camp Celebrate allows those with disabilities and their families receive encouragement and care in the comfort of a safe family camp environment.

The campers enjoy fully-accessible and age-appropriate activities. They are also fed home-style meals throughout the day.

“There’s just so much fun, there’s games and activities and a chance for campers to do normal things that because of their disability they wouldn’t have been able to otherwise.” said Katie Pratt, Camp Celebrate Volunteer.

Campers have a chance to build lifelong relationships and glean from meaningful conversations from a network of families who understand the challenges of life with disability.

“When you join us for a family retreat, you can expect teaching and worship times as a large group, free time to spend with their children as they are well cared for, refreshing and encouraging time with other men and women who have walked a road similar to yours and so much more,” Pratt said.

With the camp’s dedication to ensure each camper has a good time, Luke 14 Ministries is desperately in need of more volunteers.

“We need volunteers for Camp Celebrate,” Pratt said. “There are lots of jobs available but most importantly we need volunteers to come and spend the week as a buddy.”

Each camper is assigned a buddy who will stay with them almost 100% of the day. They will be there to help them, get to know them all and give the camper the best retreat experience possible.

“It is a Christian camp and we work to show God’s love by coming alongside our camp families and doing life with them,” she said.

As Pratt looks back on how she got started she remembers how a last minute decision changed her life.

“My first year at Camp Celebrate it was a last minute thing because they needed help and it ended up being one of the most life changing things for me,” Pratt said. “Learning to serve, be available and see life through a lens I wasn’t used to or seeing through the eyes of someone who’s daily life is just more difficult.

“It was one of the most fun things I did. I was paired with a young adult with a disability who just wanted to have fun and that’s what we did. She had a blast and I did too, by her side.”

Although it may seem scary she encourages the community to come out and volunteer at camp.

“It is different, it is scary and it is hard, but if you come and see you will leave thankful that you came.”

However, volunteering at camp isn’t the only way the community can support Camp Celebrate. Luke 14 Ministries is also accepting monetary donations.

“At this point Camp Celebrate is full for families but we need more help. If anyone wants to help but can’t do so physically, donations are always welcome to help cover camp costs.”

For more information about camp, call Katie Pratt at 423-839-9494 or visit Luke 14 Ministries’ website.