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VIDBE-Q Volume 62 Issue 3
OUB, in its 23rd year, now operates on the west side of Grand Rapids at Camp
Optimist, a 120-acre camp with lots of trails, woods, ponds, and sand dunes to explore. While
the location and structure of their programs have changed, their mission has not: "building life
skills, self-confidence and independence for children and young adults who are blind or have
low vision".
OUB provides a small and
intensive summer camp experience for
up to six children who are blind or have
low vision and/or youth at each of their
camps. OUB Camps focus on having
fun and doing all the things most people
think of at summer camp – boating,
swimming, hiking, nature programs,
sleeping in tents, and arts and crafts, but also include hands-on sessions on cooking,
gardening, outdoor activities and social skills. The majority of OUB staff are blind or have low
vision. OUB believes that people who are blind should teach people who are blind. Our
counselors are mentors for our campers, and for them to work with someone who is successful
and has the same eye condition is incredibly helpful in bolstering self-worth and confidence.
In 2017, Opportunities Unlimited for the Blind offered four sessions of camp: a cooking
and service week for ages 10-19, a cooking and music camp for ages 7-14, a slightly shorter
camp for elementary age students, and finally an eight-day adventure trip for ages 12-19. Even
though these camps have a different focus, they all have things in common; campers will cook
every day, work on social skills—just how do you shake someone's hand when you can't see
that hand, anyway?, get campers—many from urban areas—out in the woods and garden,
Campers go canoeing.
