Families Find Joy and Connection at Night OWLS Family Camp

The Belong Disability Ministry and Night OWLS Family Camp returned to Camp John Marc for a weekend of fun activities and respite. Children with disabilities, their siblings, and their parents joined Belong staff and volunteers as they played games, rode the zipline, fished, and more.

Night OWLS Family Camp takes the regular Night OWLS experience to the next level. Instead of the kids being dropped off for an evening, the whole family experiences a weekend together.

“Here, you get partnered with a family,” longtime Night OWLS volunteer Lindsay LaBrie said. “You get to really see the family, the dynamics of the family, the interaction with the mom and dad and children and siblings. It’s great to see families in that environment.”

Both the regular Night OWLS program on Fridays and the Family Camp bring together a special type of community. Siblings who are otherwise involved in different activities because of different ability levels are all together throughout Family Camp.

“Having something that all four of them can go to and do together has been such a blessing for our family,” Ashley Hopson said. “I think my other kids don’t even realize it’s such a ministry to them as well, to be around other kids with special needs, other siblings who live a similar life to them. It’s just ministered to our whole family.”

All Belong Ministry programming is open to everyone, whether they are members of HPUMC or not. But for the families who are members, having Belong where they worship makes for an even deeper connection to their church, their faith, and their family.

“Our faith has grown as a family just as we’ve seen God work through our child and his disability and our other children,” Alanna Pedicini said. “We knew this was our home, but we didn’t know why. As we’ve grown our family, we’ve seen that God truly was really paving our way and led us to this church and to this ministry for a reason. It’s been a big blessing.”