Published: July 22, 2008 11:05 pm         

P-Rays players pitch in at camp

GLENWOOD — Monday was a special day at the annual West Virginia Elks Major Project Camp for Individuals with Disabilities. Three pitchers for the Princeton Rays rookie-league baseball team visited the camp on the Glenwood Park 4-H grounds.

Whether trading basketball shots on the outdoor pavement, posing for photos at lunchtime in the dining hall, or spending a few moments listening to an individual camper, the encounters appeared mutually beneficial to both sides.

Frank Stull of Princeton, one of the 65 campers, said he looked forward to “the baseball guys coming.” He was already excited about a special outing to attend Tuesday night’s game at Hunnicutt Field. “I’m going to the ballgame,” he said with a smile.

Princeton pitcher Joseph Cruz said, “It’s a good feeling to be down here. It’s awesome. I love doing this stuff.”

Fellow pitcher Angel Chapa said, “It’s a lot of fun to come out and hang out with these guys (and) have a good time with them. I know they have it hard.” Matthew Long was also in the trio of Rays making the trip.

Jeremy Jones, a Rays’ intern, said, “Just taking time off, meeting with these unique individuals, is just a good time for me to relax, and see how other people see life, and react to other people.”

Cruz said, “Not everyone (on the team) gets to go out into West Virginia. ... We’re here for the community. We’re playing for the community.”

The annual week-long camp has been in existence for more than 50 years, through the efforts of the Elks in West Virginia. A second camp in the northern part of the state is held in June.

Camp director Taffy Hower, who grew up in Beckley and graduated from Woodrow Wilson High School, said the program is offered free of charge. Participants must be at least 8 years old, and have a physical or emotional disability.

“Our camp is for people with more severe disabilities who wouldn’t be able to go to 4-H camps or church camps,” she said.

She said the participants “get a week away from their parents. They get a week to participate in activities that they don’t typically get to.

“They get to go swimming, they get to meet new people, like the Princeton Rays. Miss West Virginia will be showing up this week. Firemen will come and bring their fire trucks. We do different activities in sports, crafts. Every night, we have a dance.

“We have ‘Christmas’ on Friday night and they all get gifts from Santa.”

Enrollees find out by “word of mouth,” Hower said, and through Elks lodges in their area. “We’ve had up to 100 before, and we would love to get our numbers back up,” she said.

Hower has been working with the campers for 17 years, though she now lives in Nashville, Tenn., and for a few years flew in from Hawaii to make it to Glenwood.

“I came when I was 14, to volunteer, and I got hooked,” she said. “These people turned into my summer family.” She’s been director for about five years. “My family comes, my mother, my sister. My husband’s been (involved).”

Terry Qualls of Elkview said, “I’ve been here about 17 years.”

Qualls, blind from birth, said his favorite aspects of camp were “swimming and dancing (and to) talk to people — and going to the ballgame.”

Qualls said, “I think it’s wonderful” that the Elks arrange for the annual camps.

“They’re doing a good job. And I think the cooks do a good job, to cook all this for us every day ... and the counselors do a good job watching the kids. Put everybody together and they all do a good job. It’s marvelous. ... Things are going good out here.”

Kevin Miller of Flat Top said the camp is “a good experience. I have a good time.”

Anthony Byrge of Beckley said he has “a blast” during the camp, which he has attended for 15 years. “We just get a week to forget we have a disability.”

He said he once worked as a wrestling promoter. “Me and one of my buddies used to wrestle in front of the kids, a couple of years ago,” he said. He said the campers “loved it. They just hollered and screamed and chanted. It was good stuff.”

Byrge said that for the Elks to put on the camp, “it takes a lot of work. It shows their dedication. And they don’t act like they’re above us; they treat us like we’re equals.

“They’re just really genuine, and you can really see that they want to be here, and want to put forth the best effort they can to give us this special week.”

The camp, which began Sunday, winds up on Saturday morning.

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tbone@bdtonline.com