Kids at Camp Hope

Kids at Camp Hope

As Sarah B. and Carol C. were driving towards PaP, Sarah M., PT, arrived at Camp Hope. 15 minutes after she arrived there, the storm began. Sarah, Betsy, Josh, Kirstin, Megan and especially Junior did not panic and handled the situation to the best of their ability… What a way to start your trip, Sarah M., and what a way to end yours, Sarah B. and Carol.

Following is a first-hand account of the storm as Carol and Sarah were headed to the airport when it hit! I am so thankful to hear you made it safely and that our drivers are so concerned with us! Not that I doubted it, but it’s really great to hear this confirmed!!!

We made it home safe and sound, barely. We were driving through the heat and smog heading toward Pietonville when all of a sudden a weird local windstorm stirred up all the dust. Within a minute it was a full downpour with winds bending the palm trees sideways and knocking trees and power lines down all over the place. There were just rivers of water rushing down the streets. The water tied up all the traffic, more than it normally is, so things just didn’t move. At one point Franz made a U-turn and took us through all sorts of weird back alleys, past some serious slums, and by lots and lots of soaking wet people going about their business (and a few ladies dancing and singing in the rain). Even Franz was getting wigged out about getting us there in time, and we had pretty much started thinking about Plan B (and drawing a blank). We did get there around 5:00 (our flight was at 6:00) but not without some serious soul searching. The storm was on NPR – here’s the link:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=130115097
I guess there was major destruction to the tents in the camps; it sounds like they were at the end of their usefulness. I can’t imagine what life in those camps must be like now.

How did things go at Camp Hope?

Franz is THE MAN. He even popped his head into the airport to make sure we got through security ok. We love him.

Awesome week we had! I miss the camp and life at LAC (and the heat). It’s good to be home, but I still feel I would have liked to have stayed longer.

Sarah