Baylee, a camper of the youth with Spina Bifida Camp Joy program, with Paige’s Princess Foundation Fundraisers, who made the RoughRiders possible.Camp Joy is now more accessible to a variety of campers thanks to the addition of the Whirlwind RoughRider wheelchair. Camp Joy, located in Clarksville, Ohio, is an independent, non-profit organization that specializes in the advancement of youth and adults from all backgrounds. Last month Camp Joy bought two of Whirlwind’s RoughRider all-terrain wheelchairs with funds donated from Paige’s Princess Foundation. The new RoughRiders help campers who use wheelchairs to access more areas of the camp. According to Gunner Blackmore, the development manager at Camp Joy, “the chairs are going great.” One camper tried the RoughRider out upon arrival to Camp Joy and loved it so much her father ended up putting her regular wheelchair back in the car. She continued to use the RoughRider for the duration of her stay. With the help of the RoughRider, the campers who use wheelchairs can more easily access the graveled and wooded areas of the camp that would be difficult to navigate in a traditional wheelchair. According to Gunner, the camp is “working on improving the path down to the water” along with other parts of the camp with the hopes to make the camp’s facilities accessible to all campers. So far, the two RoughRiders that were purchased have been beneficial to many campers including the Spina Bifida camp, Amputee Coalition participants, and the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital campers.
We at Whirlwind Wheelchair are delighted to see campers getting good use out of the RoughRiders. We would like to thank Camp Joy and Paige’s Princess Foundation and look forward to hearing from them in the future.