Parksville, NY – An upstate congressman who has been fighting to secure federal funding for Camp HASC was treated to a hero’s welcome on Wednesday at the facility’s inaugural legislative luncheon.
Subscribe to our Daily Roundup Email
Congressman John Faso was elected in November to represent the state’s 19th District which includes parts of the Hudson Valley and the Catskill region.
After meeting Faso in Washington this past spring, HASC board member Abe Eisner told the congressman how the camp provides parents of special needs and disabled children with seven weeks of respite, citing the facility’s extremely large budget and desperate need of outside funding sources.
Faso was invited to visit Camp HASC on Tuesday where he was honored at a festive luncheon in appreciation for his friendship and support.
It was Faso’s first visit to the camp and he noted that while he has passed signs for the camp on numerous occasions as he traveled down the roads of Parksville, he was unaware of the goings on at Camp HASC which, according to Eisener, dispenses 200,000 doses of medication every summer to its often frail and medically challenged campers.
During the luncheon, Faso described during the camp, now in its 45th year of operation, as “the living embodiment of G-d’s work.”
“How important this is to parents to have a warm, loving safe educational, recreational and spiritual experience for their children to come during the summer months,” said Faso. “It couldn’t be any more blessed than this.”
Others in attendance included more than forty local and state officials, Rabbi Chaim Dovid Zwiebel of Agudath Israel of America and Mrs. Ruth Lichtenstein, publisher of Hamodia, director of Project Witness and the mother of a special needs child, who shared her firsthand experiences with the tremendous benefits that Camp HASC provides to its campers and their families.
Sandra Gerry, chair of Sullivan Renaissance, which last year presented Camp HASC a $10,000 Community Mitzvah Award for beautifying its facility, also addressed the crowd at the luncheon. A visibly moved Gerry commended the camp for its efforts noting, “not only did you get the Mitzvah Award but I think what you are doing is a beautiful mitzvah.”
Faso met both campers and staff members during his time in Camp HASC and had the opportunity to tour some of the camp’s educational and therapeutic facilities including the adaptive gym and the pool.
“It was clearly an emotional visit for the congressman,” Eisner told VIN News. “As he left he told me ‘I remember what you told me in Washington and now.
