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EMIGRATION CANYON — A burglary at the Muscular Dystrophy Association office a couple of weeks ago put a summer camp for kids in jeopardy.
The Utah MDA Summer Camp — an annual week-long camp for over 110 children with the disorder — is held at Camp Kostopulos in Emigration Canyon.
“This is their best week of the year. They say it is just like Christmas,” said Amber Clark from the Utah Chapter of the Muscular Dystrophy Association.
Each of the children at the camp is affected in some way by muscular dystrophy. The goal of the summer camp is to help the kids do things that they rarely are able to.
“They get to be that normal kid,” Clark said. “We have a ropes course, we have horseback riding, they go swimming, they go fishing, we have a trophy for who catches the most fish.”
The summer camp is made possible through fundraising and donations. But on July 28, $2,000 of that money was stolen during a break-in at the organization’s office in Taylorsville. The burglars took donations in the form of gift cards and cash the association had received. They also stole items the association was planning to raffle off during events they hold.
When Harmons and Macey’s grocery stores heard what happened, they worked to help replace what was taken and then some — a $5,000 donation, said Rachael Wabel with Associated Food Stores.
“Getting to see them have this experience and, for a week, they don’t have limits and they just get to play, there is no way to describe it. It is such a great feeling,” Wabel said.
An opportunity these great kids may have missed without the last minute generosity, organizers said.
“If we didn’t have the community support, long story short, there would be no camp, so really when everyone comes together we get the kids up here and give them that wonderful experience,” Clark said.
Anyone interested in supporting the summer camp in the future can watch for their local fire department’s “Fill the Boot” campaign during Labor Day weekend.
