Jewish Child & Family Services’ (JCFS) Camp Firefly is a supportive, welcoming community for children, teens and young adults (aged 9-18) who oftentimes have difficulty connecting with peers and navigating social situations. Everything in the Camp Firefly program, including the best of summer fun and exceptional therapeutic group activities, is designed to support campers on the autism spectrum and with other social challenges. Camp Firefly provides engaging activities such as swimming, a ropes course, archery and horseback riding in a therapeutic environment focused on enhancing social, communicative and adaptive development. Campers experience the magic of camp in small groups with specially trained counselors, while enhancing social skills, building friendships and gaining confidence and independence. Here is one camper’s story.
Jackson’s family wanted him to have the experience of going to overnight camp, but because of his extreme challenge socializing, mainstream overnight camp was not possible. Luckily, Jackson’s family found Camp Firefly. He has attended for the last seven summers. For Jackson, learning how to meet new people at camp made meeting new people in his first year of high school less stressful. Jackson’s experience at Camp Firefly has helped him to be more self-assured, “I would encourage people to go [to camp] if they aren’t very social, or they don’t do much outside of their home. It’s a great opportunity to be independent and learn how to have fun with new people.” He refers to Camp Firefly as “my happy place.”
Camp Firefly is a program of Jewish Child & Family Services in partnership with JCC Camp Chi, attracting more than 70 campers from Illinois and across the country each
year. The Firefly camps offer three overnight options, and range from one to three weeks in length, depending on the age and the developmental needs of the camper. Camp Firefly takes place in July at the beautiful, woo
ded grounds of JCC Camp Chi in Lake Delton, Wisconsin.
Call 855.275.5237 to begin the registration process, or visit JCFS.org/campfirefly for more information.
