Seeing Beyond
By Tom Tracy

“These kids are afflicted with such serious handicaps and yet they always have a smile on their face... They taught me there really wasn’t anything too bad that I couldn’t overcome. I learned to live my life to the fullest.”

A junior at St. Joseph Academy in St. Augustine, Robert Bianco said he has grown to love the disabled children he works with each year at Camp Promise. He is pictured here with his camp buddy Christopher.

When Camp Promise volunteer Robert Bianco, 16, met Christopher, a teen with severe disabilities and the mental cognitive age of a two-year-old, he knew he had a new challenge on his hands. The camper – attending a summer camp sponsored by the Disabilities Ministry of the Diocese of Saint Augustine held annually at Marywood Retreat Center in Jacksonville – couldn’t speak, but it was clear to Robert that Christopher wasn’t crazy about his choice of beverages during mealtime.

“When Christopher first got to camp his mom told me that he liked to eat and that he had a good appetite. But he was picky with what he wanted to drink, so I put five different drinks in front of him,” recalled Robert, a junior at St. Joseph Academy in St. Augustine who recently completed his third year as a camp “buddy” to disabled children. “Christopher tried all the drinks, didn’t really like any of them, but he did drink a little apple juice and water – so I cut the apple juice with water and he drank that fine all week.”

While St. Joseph Academy has a community service requirement for students, Robert said he doesn’t come to Camp Promise to satisfy that requirement anymore. He became interested in the disabilities camps when his brother volunteered as a camp buddy. Now, Robert said he couldn’t imagine summer without it.

The diocese recruits and trains teen volunteers not only for Camp Promise but also Camp I Am Special and Camp Care for special needs children and young adults. Disabilities run the gamut from attention deficit disorder (ADD) to autism to Down’s syndrome. The volunteer camp buddies are assigned a specific camper for whom they are responsible for around the clock all week, with the objective that the volunteers help make their stay the best experience possible.

This year, Robert’s duties included feeding Christopher and changing his diapers, although most of the campers are more self-sufficient. Christopher was legally blind so he liked to look at things up close. Robert noticed he watched television at a close distance, so the two wandered around camp looking for things to explore and do, including playing on the swing set.

“These kids are afflicted with such serious handicaps and yet they always have a smile on their face. They never complain and have an appreciation for everything. They love the simple things and they don’t take anything for granted.

“They taught me there really wasn’t anything too bad that I couldn’t overcome. I learned to live my life to the fullest. There are people who need me and I should be out there helping them. The hardest part of volunteering at camp is saying goodbye to them at the end of the week. You build up a relationship and bond with them like brothers and so it’s tough to leave them.”

Robert doesn’t mind talking about his volunteer work with his friends at St. Joseph Academy, who generally understands the benefits of community service. Other kids wonder why he would give away his summer vacation time at the camp. As Robert sees it, teens are preoccupied with trying to make a name for themselves or to fit in – to find a niche. But Robert’s reward is developing a sense of character and patience – something that may serve him well as he pursues his dream of joining the military and possibly training to be a pilot.

Robert said his personal hero is his mother, who has run marathons and instilled in her children a sense of determination and the ability to set goals.

“He has an overwhelming sense of compassion and dedication – even if his camper was awake all night long he is always go, go, go,” said Jennifer Walsh, 24, recreational program coordinator with the Disabilities Ministry at the diocese. “You never have to remind Robert to take care of his campers’ needs before his own, and he is a phenomenal kid. He has been asked to work during the hardest week of all the camps. He serves as a role model for everybody here.”

Herself a former Camp Promise volunteer who went on to adopt a camper with special needs, Walsh said the volunteer program has spurred a lot of young people to seek careers in the medical field or in special education, for example. For the families, the volunteers provide parents with a welcomed break. It is easier for them to have some real free time knowing their child is being treated with respect. “It is a life changing experience and everybody learns to be more patient, less selfish,” she said.

The most mistaken impression about people with disabilities may be that they are so different from everyone else; that they are somehow weird or opposite from us, said Robert. “But once you get to know them they become very similar to everyone else; you have to be able to see through their disabilities,” he said.