This is Jenna and she currently resides an Emmaus community home in St. Peters. Last year, Jenna really wanted to go to Camp Wonderland with her housemate. But sadly, she was stuck at home while her friend went to camp. So this year… Emmaus team-member, Amber, was committed to making sure Jenna would go to camp!
“Now, if you know Jenna… sometimes she can be a handful. She’ll sometimes gets impatient when she doesn’t feel understood or when her voice isn’t being heard, so I was a little (well actually A LOT!!) nervous about how she was going to do at camp! But its worth a shot right!? You don’t know unless you try!” – Amber T., Emmaus Associate Client Services Manager
Then there was the fact that Jenna didn’t have the funds to afford attending camp. So Amber reached out to a program in St. Louis that funds many of our other clients, but due to their limited funds they were not able to assist her. When it was almost guaranteed that Jenna wouldn’t have the money to pay for camp, Amber didn’t think she’d make it.
Then a miracle happened… due to the hard work of our wonderful team members at Emmaus, and generous community members, we were able to help Amber provide Jenna with the funds and the camp was 100% paid for! Amber signed up Jenna to go the same week as her other friends, so she could be with some familiar faces during her week away.
Then, Amber was worried when she heard that Jenna was placed across the other side of the camp, away from the other familiar faces that she knows. But to Amber’s surprise, “SHE TOTALLY ROCKED IT!” Jenna had so much fun at camp! She giggled and laughed while telling us all of her stories from her week at Camp Wonderland.
Like how they put life jackets on her to keep her safe on the pirate ship (which Amber mentions was Jenna’s FAVORITE part), she told us about her new friend Ivy that she met… and how she squirted Ivy in the face with water guns! How she was swimming in the pool with her new friends, went to the dance and listened to Michael Jackson, and on and on and on!
“When I showed her the picture of her in the life jacket, she just giggled and talked about how those life jackets keep her safe on the pirate ship!” – Amber T.
We are blessed to have such amazing team members at Emmaus. Thank you for everything you guys do to make sure the clients we serve get to experience these amazing things!