Sylvia Mott of Summerland has donated $100 of her babysitting earnings to Agur Lake Camp because of her desire to help special needs children. Sylvia, who is 14-years-old and a student at Summerland Middle School, became interested in helping Special Education students in her school when she was in Grade 6.
The first year she formed a friendship with a girl in her class who had Down’s Syndrome.
“We played some games and I was her partner for some of the games. I thought it was really neat to help her out. It was lots of fun,” Mott said.
The next year she asked the Special Education teacher in her school if she could help in some way. The teacher connected her with Ben Stickney who has mobility and speech challenges, and she befriended him. Ben is 14 years old and will be starting high school this fall.
“It’s really neat getting to know him as a person,” said Mott.
“When he sees me he puts his hand out to give me a high five. He had this board with wheels on it that he uses to scoot around. One day when he was on it I got in his wheelchair to play tag with him.”
Thora Delaquis, Learning Support Teacher at Summerland Middle School explained that at least 40 students at her school take on similar helping roles.
“The best service the helper students provide is to be friendly and to bring some fun into the lives of those who have limited options.”
“What we have found is that our special needs students benefit greatly from these interactions, but our students in the regular stream also benefit from the caregiver role. The interactions of those like Sylvia, have made our school community more inclusive and a richer place for our daily living and learning,” she said.
About her choice of Agur Lake Camp for her donation Mott said, “I thought Agur Lake was a great choice because I’m interested in helping people with disabilities. I went on the website, and then contacted Barb to ask how to donate to the camp.”
Barb Hatton is a past-president of ALCS.
Mott earns money through baby-sitting. She raised enough to send herself to a camp of her choice. But she didn’t want to stop there.
She wanted special needs children to have a camp experience also. Agur Lake camp is a wilderness camp 15 kilometres west of Summerland.
It will be opening soon and will provide camp facilities for families with a special needs member.