Giraffes have been sighted in FL

Summer camp is a big experience in kids’ lives—sleeping away from home, going on nature walks, waiting for a “big one” to hit your fishing line, learning crafts, and singing around a campfire. Every kid should have such experiences.

But until Muffet and Brian Einwag organized Camp Florida Fish Tales, local kids with physical and medical disabilities had a hard time at camp, if they got to go at all.

The Florida camp the Einwags created is barrier-free and wheelchair-accessible. The all-volunteer staff is large enough so that every child has a counselor and no one is left out of any activity. Kids with cerebral palsy, spina bifida, epilepsy and cancer are among those who’ve attended the Florida camp each June since 1999.

The Einwags first envisioned a special summer camp when Brian was in the hospital himself, being treated for the debilitating disease, spondylitis. The young couple met many of his fellow patients who were special-needs children and learned how restricted life can be for such kids.

Fulfilling their dream of creating a camp became more difficult for the Einwag’s when Brian’s illness grew worse, keeping him bedridden much of the time. To care for Brian and to keep working on the camp, Muffet closed the children’s shop she owned. The couple placed Camp Florida Fish Tales above their personal struggles, working tirelessly and without compensation to sustain the camp and to make sure families knew about it.

Their camp completed its third season in June of 2001, hosting nearly 30 children, despite the fact that Brian’s illness had claimed his life just a month earlier. “It was so important to Brian,” says Muffet now. “He had to know it was at the point where it would continue to grow. Knowing that it was, helped him to let go.”

Muffet Einwag continues to organize fundraisers in the community and to search for a piece of property where a permanent camp can be built and operated year-round. It won’t be an easy task but she is undaunted.

“You don’t really think about not being able to do it. You just do it.” There’s more at www.campflafishtales.com.