UNA athletes volunteer time, talents at summer camp

By Lisa Singleton-Rickman
Staff Writer

September 13, 2008


For University of North Alabama basketball players Phil Collins, Doug Hunter and Thomas Fraise, volunteering takes on a new meaning in terms of working with individuals with disabilities.

The three players left Friday with a group of 10 campers from the Muscle Shoals Park and Recreation Department's adaptive needs program for Camp ASCCA, the Alabama Special Camp for Children and Adults. The weekend trip is an annual event for the adaptive needs program.

When Collins, Fraise and Hunter were asked to take time out of their busy schedules to help at the camp that caters to children and adults with mental and physical challenges, there was no hesitation.

After all, they'd been to Camp ASCCA before. Last summer, they took a therapeutic recreation course and spent a week helping at Camp ASCCA. That was all it took. They were hooked.

Hunter, of Bel Air, Md., said Camp ASCCA was "like no experience I've ever had in my life."

The camp offers water and land recreational activities for the campers in a highly structured, nonrestrictive environment on Lake Martin in Jackson's Gap.

"Before I got to Camp ASCCA, I viewed it as a way to get my three hours of credit, but I got there and loved it," said Collins, who is from Sydney, Australia. "It was such an eye-opening experience for me. I know I learned more from them than they did from me.

"We're hoping to go back and help next summer."

Dawn Underwood, director of the adaptive needs program, said the six workers and 10 campers will be busy all weekend, from swimming and tubing on Lake Martin to hiking and performing in the camp's talent show.

"I like the talent competition best," said Keisha Bevis, of Greenhill, a charter member of the six-year-old program. "I'm going to sing for my talent. I love it."

Bevis's mother, Donna, said the camp is not only enjoyable for Keisha but it also provides a brief respite for her as Keisha's caregiver.

"I cherish my time with Keisha, but she enjoys this camp tremendously, and it's nice to have a little break," she said. "I'm so thankful for this camp and the workers who so willingly go with them."

Keisha's friend, Stacy Hanback, said her talent show song last year, Carrie Underwood's "Jesus, Take the Wheel," inspired her to practice another Underwood recording, "So Small." She'll perform it for the group during this year's talent show.

"The talent show is my favorite part of camp, but I like swimming, too," Hanback said.

For Fraise, it took some creative planning just to make the trip. When a class ran late Friday, he realized he wasn't going to make the departure time. So, he managed to meet the group in Moulton where he boarded the bus.

The experience of working with the Camp ASCCA participants has deeply affected Fraise's views on what's important in life, he said.

A sociology/criminal justice major at UNA, Fraise, of New Orleans, said he hopes to work with individuals with special needs in some capacity after college.

"I love seeing their determination to get through the different events they do at camp," Fraise said.

"They never give up, and that drive to get through has really given me a push personally to have that attitude in basketball and just in life in general."