The nonprofit Recreation Unlimited operates a 195-acre campus specifically designed for people with disabilities or health concerns to enjoy a camp experience. Credit: Courtesy of Recreation Unlimited
Spanning 195 acres, nonprofit Recreation Unlimited’s campus is specifically designed to allow people with disabilities or health concerns to enjoy a camp experience.
Since 1958, Recreation Unlimited — located at 7700 Piper Road in Ashley, Ohio — stands out from other camps because it provides a camp experience for older adults as well as kids, David Hudler, operations director for the organization, said. Many similar organizations don’t offer accessible programming to people above the age of 22, Hudler said.
“We’ve had individuals coming to our programs since before we opened this campus in the late ’80s,” Hudler said. “So we’ve been a part of their lives for the better part of 40 to 50 years. We have folks that come out and they request vacation from their jobs, and this is their vacation, they come camp here with us.”
In 2021, 40 percent of campers who visited Recreation Unlimited came from Franklin County to enjoy opportunities at a camp of its size and location outside of an urban area, with features such as air-conditioned buildings, a pool, a lake and more than four miles of wheelchair accessible paved trails, Hudler said.
All activities are adaptable to individuals with disabilities, such as the climbing wall and canoes, which are fitted with Hoyer lift systems to allow wheelchair users to use them, he said.
“There are other camps that run traditional summer camps and then they’ll do a week or so of special needs camp, which is great, but that’s not what they do full time,” Hudler said. “We’re able to provide an experience for folks that are on the more severe end of the disability types and adapt different programs and activities to everyone’s needs.”
In addition to typical Monday through Friday summer camps, Hudler said “respite weekend camps” are run during the traditional school year and feature two camps per month: one for adults and one for youth. He said some of these camps are specialized for particular groups, such as people on the autism spectrum.
Approximately 20 to 25 percent of the camp’s counseling staff and faculty are Ohio State students, who Hudler said are recruited largely through events on Ohio State’s campuses.
“As comfortable as the staff made me, it was really the campers that really helped me feel like I was doing a good job,” Zane Clouse, senior program coordinator for the organization and an Ohio State alumnus, said. “Especially with some of our adult camps, they’re used to having new staff every year.”
Clouse said he went to Ohio State to become a history teacher but later fell in love with Recreation Unlimited through a friend’s recommendation. Clouse said he worked three subsequent summers as a counselor for the camp during his time as a student from 2007 to 2011.
After graduation, Clouse said he worked weekends as a counselor from 2011 to 2015 until he returned to Recreation Unlimited full time.
“I feel like I’m a more empathetic and compassionate person than I ever was prior to working at Recreation Unlimited,” Clouse said. “I met my wife there, gosh, almost 7 1/2 years ago when I was still working weekends just as a counselor.”
Hudler grew up in the Boy Scouts and was often involved in outdoor activities as a child, but his ability to do so became limited at age 7 when he contracted neuromyelitis optica — a disease that causes muscles of the legs and back to degenerate over time, he said. Since then, Hudler has used crutches or a wheelchair, and he said he now uses a wheelchair full time.
“It was a very easy transition for me to go from camping with and being a part of the Boy Scouts and working at a Boy Scout camp in central Ohio to come up here and help provide some of those experiences and programs to folks with those disabilities that wouldn’t be able to participate otherwise,” Hudler said.
Recruiting Ohio State students for Recreation Unlimited has proven to be more difficult than usual during the pandemic because virtual events spark less engagement compared to in-person events, Clouse said. However, the camp has progressively returned to more in-person recruitment events as of late, such as the 2022 Summer Internship & Opportunity Fair held Feb. 15.
“It’s easy to still find passionate people because of what we do,” Clouse said. “If you hear what we do and it’s something that draws you in, it’s easy to sell at that point.”
Students interested in employment opportunities with Recreation Unlimited can find more information on the organization’s website.
“I have been involved for 14 years,” Clouse said. “A lot of the kids are now young adults, and it’s really cool seeing them grow up.”
