A place where kids can feel right at home

Camp Winston helps children ‘accomplish things they thought they never could do’

With a special stick, a basket of rocks and a turkey feather, Eli Sandiland made magic. Just as he finished his rain dance, the lowhanging grey clouds opened up and it began to pour.

“Do you think it’s a coincidence?” the 9-year-old asked Camp Winston director Denise Fruchter. Maybe. Maybe not. A gifted young lad, Eli has special skills and creating rain could well be one of them. He puts all of them into practice at Winston, a camp for kids with complex neurological disorders.

“I’m Mother Nature’s little helper,” he said before asking: “Do you want to know a fun fact? Did you know that one type of octopus has nine brains — one in the usual place and one in each of the tentacles to control it?”

Highly intelligent — Eli has been reading university-level books since he was 5 — and articulate beyond his years, he also has disabilities including autism spectrum disorder, a processing disability, Tourette’s, obsessive compulsive and attention deficit disorders.

At Winston, he’s just one of the kids enjoying the beautiful surroundings and having fun at camp where he feels right at home. So he should, considering his parents met while working there and he’s been coming to Winston since he was a little tyke.

Eli likes all the fun activities at Winston as well as the kids and counsellors. “The food is good too,” he said.

When asked what he thought were the characteristics of a good camp friend, Eli didn’t hesitate. “They’re what we talk about at flagpole,” when the flag is raised and the word of the day revealed. “Bravery, empathy and kindness,” he said, recalling a few.

He’s picked up other lessons at camp. “I learned about co-operation and to take turns, being a good sport,” Eli said adding he prefers cooperation over competition, even when he and his cabin buddies play Dominion, a complex, tactical game that uses 500 cards, said counsellor Willow Schryer, 21, who was described by Eli as a “ethereal . . . and a dryad — a tree spirit.” Watching kids grow and develop is the best part of Winston said cabin head and camp photographer Max Denley, 20. He’s music therapy student at Acadia University and is also putting his skills to work at camp. “Being at Winston is one of the best experiences of my life,” he said. “The best part is watching kids accomplish things they thought they never could do.” Successes and lessons learned at Winston will be celebrated and put into use long after camp ends.

LESLIE FERENC/TORONTO STAR Counsellors and visitors create rain noise makers in the music cabin at Camp Winston in Kilworthy, Ont.

Goal: $650,000 To date: $515,018 How to donate: With your gift, the Fresh Air Fund can help send 25,000 disadvantaged and special needs children to camp. The experience gives these children much more than relief from summer heat — it gives these...