100th Anniversary Celebrated with Birthday Party at Camp Lily

For 100 years, Easterseals Eastern Pennsylvania has been serving individuals with disabilities and their families. Every summer our campground on Mount Penn comes alive with children, teens and young adults who enroll in our Camp Lily summer day camp. Programming includes all the typical camp activities (arts and crafts, music/expressive arts, sports, swimming, nature studies, and games) as well as specialized programming (sensory experiences and occupational therapy) to help campers build skills, promote friendships, and increase independence.

To commemorate our 100th anniversary, we hosted a birthday party to celebrate what makes camp (and Easterseals) so special. Campers decorated cupcakes, played party games, and filled and buried a time capsule for future campers to unearth on our 150th anniversary. Berks County Commissioner Michael S. Rivera attended and presented a proclamation to Dr. Mindy L. McCormick, president and CEO of Easterseals Eastern PA.

Camp Lily moved to its current location on the mountain in 1967 and has been offered every summer with the exception of 2020 when the program had to be offered virtually as a result of the pandemic.

We have been offering summer camps for over seventy years. There is a lot about camp that looks the same as it did in the 1950s, but you can see how programming has been adjusted over the years to meet the needs of the new generation of campers. Today, we have a sensory room and a sensory playground to support campers with autism, sensory processing disorders, and other conditions. ––Mindy McCormick

Disability today looks different from what it did 100 years ago, but Easterseals has been able to remain relevant by building trusting relationships with the community and working families to understand where there are gaps in services. “As an organization, we are always adapting and identifying new and innovative ways to provide support and meet the needs of the community,” said McCormick.