Camp Cheerful: Achievement Centers for Children

"5 years ago this used to be a great camp for disabled kids and adults. Now it's awful with a terrible staff. And zero programs for kids under 16. This this the worst staff I've ever dealt with. It's a shame because there aren't a lot of places around that have programs for disabled children, and this place went down the toilet. DO BETTER"

"We signed our 7 year old up for 3 weeks at camp cheerful. He is level 3 autistic with speech limitations, who attends year round school at an autism center (where he does very well). We signed up in march for the weeks he would be out during the summer '23. Everyone was raving about them and telling us that CC was a better option for our son's abilities. We had very little communication from Jessica Potts, even to collect payment before camp. Finally, we were able to reach her again before the start date. She had some questions about our son's behavior, which is standard to get a sense of what kind of support a child needs. The payment was processed and we were ready to start on Monday, June 26th. A couple weeks later, June 23rd (The Friday before the start date) around 4 pm, we received a phone call from someone at Camp Cheerful stating they could not take our son this year because of staffing. As parents of special needs kids, this was devastating. He needed somewhere safe where people would understand him and give him the routine, structure, and activity he was used to from school every day. We had to take time off of work unexpectedly. We had to find, conduct interviews, and hire a nanny for the rest of the weeks he was to be off. While working full time jobs and juggling 3 children with autism. We obviously made it work, but it was absolutely one of the most challenging summers. Thanks Camp Cheerful."

"Camp Cheerful is a very special place, Keep in mind that this is a non profit organization that many people have donated their time and resources to, over a period of many many years. Camp Cheerful, with their hard working staff and hundreds of volunteers have worked together to build and evolve Camp Cheerful into a truly special place that it is today! and with the tiredless devotion of their caring staff and volunteers they continually work hard to improve the care and quality of all the wonderful programs they provide."

"Deplorable treatment of disabled children. The camp started Monday June 12, 2023 and not even 30 min into the camp Jessica Potts started calling me telling me I need to pick my son up. I asked what the issue was and she told me “he’s running.” My son has ASD, ADHD and a rare genetic mutation called Jansens de Vries syndrome. This camp should be well equipped to support children like my son but they had 0 interest in doing so. Anyone knows that a child with autism/adhd needs to 1) have time to transition in a new space and 2) be able to trust the people around him. Camp Cheerful did not try to facilitate either. They also refused support from two entities that offered to provide 1on1 aide and then lied to the board of Developmental disabilities telling they can’t support him because they don’t have 1on1 help. Jessica Potts needs to go and the whole staff needs to be revamped. When the camp manager is incompetent you can’t expect the staff to be any better."

"I was a volunteer in the barn during my exchange year and have so many fun memories. I learned a lot about horses, never had to do anything that I couldn't do and got to help kids and adults while being with horses. The horses are treated very well and the staff is very friendly too. I am so grateful for everything that I got to do and learn at this place. I would recommend this barn to every person that wants to volunteer or that wants to take ridinglessons, because the riders (and volunteers) are treated with love and kindness. Thank you for the great time and everything I got learn and experience"