Ensure AJ's Joyful Return to Camp Lakey Gap

Story

This is my friend AJ. He loves Star Wars, Transformers, Minecraft, all things Nintendo, Disney, and Marvel. He loves to quote movies, serenade you with theme songs and re-enact scenes from all his favorites. He can tell you the release date of every upcoming animated or family friendly action movie, and he makes plans far in advance to ensure he can see them. Gotta be careful, though, because he has definitely given away a few integral plots to some movies (i.e. Tony Stark and Han Solo.) Lol! In every conversation, he will ask about relatives, friends and pets, and always demonstrates concern for illness or injury. He is creative, resilient, kind, and has a hilarious sense of humor. He is a sweetheart! I met AJ in 2003 when I started teaching and he entered his freshman year of high school. He kept our classroom in stitches with his antics and humor, and we actually never had to call IT to our classroom b/c he could fix any tech problem that came up. After leaving teaching, I have been blessed to maintain a 22 year friendship with AJ. His parents and sister always kept me updated, and despite living 800 miles apart, we remain in touch and have regular visits together. Sadly, AJ lost his father a few years after graduation, and then his mom passed away a few years later. In 2014, his sister, Miranda, found an amazing adult group home for him in the beautiful mountains of Asheville. He is well supported there, has friends, loves his staff, and enjoys working two part-time jobs, including Meals on Wheels. He and his friends have a Coffee Club (donuts and chocolate milk for him), and he enjoys special events, healthy food, exercise and music programming and he has an amazing room full of his personal treasures. He loves visits and virtual calls with his sister, brother-in-law and nieces, his aunt Carole, and w/ Mrs. Sunny (he still refers to me by my teacher name.) AJ has been such an integral part of my life that he knows all of my family, and they all know him – even those he hasn’t met. For that matter, he has befriended many of my friends, and regularly sends all of us emails about his life, pictures, and calendar proposals for special events, movie releases, and holidays. Those on his email list count themselves blessed to be included. And we all have quite organized special event calendars thanks to AJ!! ;) Once befriended, you are a friend for life with AJ. AJ’s routine suffered a lot of change following the hurricane damage last year. Many things are still not back to normal, and the impact has been very difficult for him. He has been quite resilient through a lot of unfair loss, change and transition, and he hasn’t deserved the strife he has had to endure. As many know, people with autism need consistency and routine, and changes to that can be destabilizing. One thing he has always been able to count on is his yearly trip to Camp Lakey Gap in Black Mountain, NC - a week-long residential camp for people with autism. They provide a fun, individualized experience with a focus on social success, taking leadership roles, successfully trying new things, and learning to accept and embrace themselves. For AJ, it truly has been as the motto states: A Place for People with Autism to find Community, Acceptance, and Purpose. He absolutely LOVES his camp trips and he NEEDS the recharge every year. He talks about camp all year long, and literally counts the days until the special week arrives every July. He would be devastated if he ever had to miss it. This is where we need your help! I found out recently that AJ has always received partial sponsorship to attend camp, and he pays for the remainder every year. Unfortunately, last year his bill was not paid in full. He still owes money for last year, and also needs to pay for this year, minus his sponsorships. His very small circle is going to help him the best we can. With Miranda’s permission, I wanted to appeal to family and friends to ask if anyone would be willing to contribute anything to help send him again this year. Anything we can raise for him will be used for the sole purpose of ensuring he can continue to attend this amazing camp every year. His sister and I would move mountains to make sure he has what he needs. With your help, maybe we can move this mountain together! Please consider helping this most special person. He is a most deserving recipient of any gift you may choose to offer. ❤️