Volunteers rally to restore Camp CAMP after flood damage, ensuring play areas are ready for campers with special needs by Sunday.
CENTER POINT, Texas — At Camp CAMP on the Guadalupe River in Center Point there was an invasion Wednesday morning.
After flood waters receded, revealing a wrecked play space on river's edge, an army of caring volunteers arrived bright and early to restore order and safety in time for campers to arrive on Sunday.
CAMP is an acronym for Children's Association for Maximum Potential.
They serve individuals with mild to severe medical conditions or disabilities, giving them a chance to leave their labels and limitations behind.
The special equipment they have lovingly developed over the years was wiped away in the Friday morning flood, and the landscape when the work project started was nothing but twisted piles of mangled trees.
Cord Shiflet, who said he is a seventh generation Texan who lives in Austin, said he heard about the damage and used the power of social media to recruit enough people to make things right.
Shiflet, who calls his volunteer group CordNation, said, "I'm just a guy that saw an opportunity that that we needed to jump on."
The group worked in Ingram on Sunday and the Center Point Volunteer Fire Department area on Monday and when they finished up there, they asked for more work.
Shiflet said he was completely unaware of the important mission of the camp, but he did some research and made a commitment.
"I didn't know what it was. I'd never heard of it, didn't know anything about it so I drove up here and drove inside, jumped on my phone and googled them, and I said this is what we've been looking for!" Shiflet said. "I mean this is just the epitome of what we want to help and clean up and kind of bring the camp spirit back to the area."
People need to hear stories like this, Shiflet said, adding "You come to a place like this where it's kids with special needs and it's a camp for kids that can't go to any other camp, so we were so glad to find it and we want to honor them, honor their spirit."
Shiflet said an immediate push is important because campers are on the way.
"Campers are actually coming back here on Sunday, so their camp (cabins) is 100 feet above water. It's pristine. Everything is in great shape, but their beautiful park down here is a nightmare. And so we want to see if we can restore this back to where they canoe, kayak, fish, grill out," Shiflet said.
With so many doing so much heavy lifting, Shiflet said the work was well ahead of schedule and the camp director is thrilled.
"The director said y'all had done at 9:30 this morning what I wanted done by 5 p.m. Saturday, and he just said we're going to keep going and make it better so it's so far exceeded everyone's expectations!" Shiflet said.
This entire effort, he said, is a heartfelt mission of hope.
"This is all privately owned, donated equipment. There's no state, there's no government, this is all just people that wanted to help and donated their toys and talent." Shiflet said.
Shiflet said in addition to the direct losses due to damage, the camp also had a loss of income because they've been unable to operate, so the need for funding is critical.
"I wanted to raise, I thought $10,000 would help them buy some of their toys and things that were back down here on the water, and the last I checked we were over $75,000, so we're going to go such a long way into buying the things that this camp needs to put it back in order," Shiflet said.
They're accepting directed donations through Venmo, and more information can be found online.
This is a link to CordNation, and this is a link to Camp CAMP.