Organization seeks community help in compiling memories
By Megan Kelley
Clarkston News editor
mkelley@mihomepaper.com
INDEPENDENCE TWP. — Clarkston SCAMP, a longstanding and beloved local organization, hits 50 years of servicing the local special needs community this year.
SCAMP, an annual summer camp program for special needs individuals ages three and up, runs for just 15 days out of the year but its impact is far more reaching than that. Because there is no age cut off, and no one is turned away based on diagnosis or financial need, SCAMP sees well over 100 SCAMPers every year.

This last year, the program saw 156 SCAMPers and 188 volunteers.
“We want to create a sense of community for our SCAMPers and making sure that they get the experience and they get the chance to do things that maybe they can’t do on their own,” said Amy Darnell, Executive Director of SCAMP. “Whether it’s riding an adaptive bike, because they’re expensive, or going to a movie. We now rent out movie theaters. We don’t just throw kids in a theater, so if they have sensory (issues) if they scream, if they make noises, they aren’t interrupting anymore. We try to not only build that sense of community, but in building that sense of community, giving them a chance to build self esteem and the connections that come from being in that kind of a social environment.”
SCAMP was founded 50 years ago by Bob Brumback, a special education teacher in the district. At the time, the special education department was very small and Brumback saw a need to create a summer program for the students who weren’t required to go to school year round.

“There were certain students, based on what their diagnoses were, that had to go to school a certain number of days a year, but the kids who didn’t have that diagnosis but weren’t quite in general education had nothing to do all summer because they were wheelchair bound, hearing impaired or sight impaired, and they were unable to participate in a typical camp,” Darnell said.
From its inception, SCAMP has gone through regular changes and is constantly evolving to meet the needs of its students.
“The people that have been around a long time, they’ll tell you that SCAMP is really not quite the same year after year, just because we’re always making slight changes to make sure that we’re adapting,” said Darnell who went on to explain that each year SCAMP survey’s families and volunteers to gauge interest in activities and see what they can do to improve the program.
Recently, the program has purchased more adaptive bikes and students spend more time in the water and on boats. Through SCAMP students are able to achieve a more typical camp experience where they make friends and have fun for more than just the 15 days that SCAMP is in session.
“The number of parents I hear from that say as soon as sign up for SCAMP in April, all of a sudden, their scamper who maybe they haven’t been texting their friends, all of a sudden it’s a calling and texting frenzy because they’re all going to be back at SCAMP and so it’s that excitement,” Darnell said.
SCAMP relies heavily on donations not just to keep up with programming, but also just to send students to SCAMP. According to Darnell, it costs roughly $2,100 to send one student to SCAMP and more than half are in need of financial assistance.
“I’ve been given this very fragile gift that it’s a little terrifying, but it’s amazing. When you look back on the number of people that have been donating for close to 50 years, and some people, it’s big dollars with a lot of zeros, and other people, it’s smaller donations that have been consistent over the years. It’s amazing to me that something so small and that runs for 15 days out of the year can command the respect, the acceptance and the generosity of a community like ours,” said Darnell.
This year, to celebrate 50 years, SCAMP is hoping to put together a sort of “walk down memory lane” but is seeking help from the public, people who worked for SCAMP or families that had a child participate in SCAMP, to provide their own memories and photos.

Darnell recalled a story she was told recently where John Denver was performing at Pine Knob one summer and word had reached him that SCAMP was taking place.
“He and his crew came in and met our SCAMPers and just coincidentally, our music teacher had been teaching the whole crew the sign language to the song Sunshine On My Shoulders by him, and so they performed it for him,” Darnell said. “I’d never heard that before. That’s the one thing that just sticks out to me is that we reached John Denver, who was at that point, a huge star. Most people today probably have no idea who he was, but, you know it’s like, how many other stories like that have we not heard of? You know that somebody has just a great memory that we could take and use to share with the community to show how deep the connection is and how deep the memories about SCAMP has been over the years.”
Darnell explained that she would love to hear memories but also love to see photos of SCAMPers on their first day of SCAMP.
“We have SCAMPers that have been coming for 40 years. They’re older than I am and I think, ‘I’d love a picture of you from 40 years ago. But also the community at large, there are people who have moved away from (the area) and (stopped) coming to SCAMP for whatever reason, but they would still be able to share these stories and memories, which is what we’re hoping to gather,” said Darnell.
Another thing SCAMP is doing this year is bringing back the Home Tour where guests will be able to tour historic homes in downtown Clarkston.
On May 31, there will be two tours taking place, the Daytime Home Tour and Home Tour Patrons Night. Tickets are available online at clarkstonscamp.org.
Additionally, the annual Walk and Roll is set to take place on May 18 at Clarkston Junior High School (subject to change).
If you have a memory or photo you would like to share with SCAMP, they can be sent to Darnell via email at amdarnell@clarkston.k12.mi.us. Please no phone calls.