In Hilton Head, a camp helps blind children see the best in themselves | Opinion

Shelby Craig gave listeners goosebumps last week as she shared the stage with legendary island troubadour Gregg Russell and sang “God Bless America” beneath Hilton Head Island’s Liberty Oak by the Harbour Town Lighthouse in Sea Pines.

What made it even more beautiful is that Craig is legally blind and people here have been more than willing to “stand beside her and guide her.”

She first came to the island as a 6-year-old at Camp Leo, a project of three local Lions Clubs that brings legally blind children ages 7 to 17 from around the state to Hilton Head for a week in July, free of charge, including transportation to and from home.

This is the 50th year these young people have come to bathe in the beauty of the island’s sand and sea.

They cannot see it like most visitors can, yet the experience helps them see the best in themselves.

As a Hilton Head Town Council proclamation declaring July 16 Camp Leo Day put it, campers have been able to build independence and self-confidence here.

“Here, we’re all the same,” one camper said.

Shelby Craig is now 29 and a counselor at Camp Leo. She lives in Ohio, and couldn’t resist an Ohio-tourist quip with Gregg Russell, who has entertained generations of families visiting the island over the past 49 summers.

“Before you ask,” Craig said, “No, I do not have a van.”

She and the others may not realize it, but they have blessed the island — and now Bluffton and Okatie as the Lions Clubs have grown — by helping us see the best in ourselves.

Craig was led onto the stage last week by Ben Snead, the camp’s director for 44 years. He said the moment was so special that when they walked off, a stranger “pushed $200 in my pocket and said go buy something for the kids.”

Camp Leo is a typical Hilton Head story. There’s a “there” where there does not seem to be a “there.” The camp has no campground — no cottages, lakes or archery ranges.

Maybe that’s why so few people know about this tradition that marks its 50th anniversary in the same year that Hilton Head Hospital does.

Tom Sharp, one of the camp’s volunteers, called it “the silent miracle on the island.”

Dale Larow of Sun City Hilton Head chairs the Camp Leo Council, a nonprofit that stages the camp. Supporters must raise $40,000 to $45,000 per year for the camp. They have to rent five 15-passenger vans, store beds year round, rent the charter bus to bring the campers, and cover payroll for a director, assistant director, counselors, nurse, doctor and chef.

Major income streams include the Lions Club concession stand at the 13th green during the annual RBC Heritage Presented by Boeing, a PGA Tour event in Sea Pines, and there are grants that help, such as ones from The Bargain Box thrift store, the PGA Superstore and Gregg Russell’s foundation.

Then there are in-kind donations that keep about 40 children and 20 counselors active.

St. Andrew By-the-Sea United Methodist Church hosts the camp at no cost in its Celebration Center, where Ov Conforme, a former island restaurant manager, runs the big kitchen, and classrooms are filled with bunk beds set up by Town of Hilton Head Fire Rescue firefighters.

Resort Services Inc. of Bluffton provides the sheets, blankets and pillow cases, and a variety of activities are donated, including kayaking by Outside Hilton Head, a dolphin cruise by Dolphin Seafari, rock climbing at the Island Recreation Center, miniature golf at Pirate’s Island, non-miniature golf at Old South Golf Club, a fishing excursion by the Hilton Head Plantation Fishing Club, and a boat ride given this year by Kirk Glenn.

The Greenwood Pool Association in Sea Pines lets the camp use its swimming pool.

The list of givers could go on and on. Camp Leo has quietly shown for 50 years what the real America looks like.

It shows an America that acts like it has indeed been blessed by God.