Disabilities camp slated to close

Rustburg resident Kim Lemburg said Ozzie Lemburg, her 10-year-old son who has autism, has attended Camp Virginia Jaycee for four years and she was heartbroken when she recently received a letter saying the camp isn't scheduled to open this summer.

Camp Virginia Jaycee, which opened in 1971, is a camp for people of all ages with disabilities situated on 90 acres in Bedford County. The camp and its cabins are northwest of Montvale near the Blue Ridge Parkway.

"The Camp Virginia Jaycee staff is family," Lemburg said. "Some of those counselors have worked with my son for four years now."

Everyone who attended the camp, no matter where they were fromorwhat their abilities, was included and celebrated, she said.

Lemburg said she andher family attended the weekend family camp, where she and her family got to unplug from screens and relax. Her son enjoyed swimming in the pool, participating in arts and crafts and having his face painted.

"It was not a fancy camp," Lemburg said. "They didn't have a ton of amenities. They had a lot of heart. I think the community there, that's what's hard to recreate."

Lemburg said the camp boosted her son's confidence, because he was able to try new things and be around new people. Her son wanted to go back year after year. Her favorite memory was from the second family camp they attended.

Lemburg said the camp had a talent show.

"The next thing we know he's going to do jokes; a child who has anxiety about being in front of people," Lemburg said. "He's on stage, telling jokes and killing it. That's one of my favorite camp memories. Every year he got a little more comfortable."

Lemburg said she has a lot of fond memories of the camp and she regrets that there wasn't a farewell event.

"We've made friends," Lemburg said. "I have parent friends I met through family camp, people that will stay in touch. It would've been nice to go out with a bang. It'll definitely be missed."

Lemburg said she's looking for other camps for her son to attend, but she said recreational activities geared toward children with disabilities are slim.

Hope Tree Family Services, which has offices in Salem, Martinsville and Chester, owns the landand is putting the property up for auction in March, because the camp's upkeep has been greater than its revenues, Mark Early, the nonprofit's communication director said.

Hope Tree offers Christian residential, educational and support services to at-risk children and to adults with disabilities throughout Virginia, including foster care training and support, according to their its website.

Boyd Temple, auctioneer and real estate broker with the Roanoke-based real estate firm Woltz & Associates, Inc., said Thursday that the Bedford County Appraisal District assessed the 2017 value of both the land and improvements on the land at more than $2.4 million.

The minimum required bid will be under $1 million, Temple said.

Temple said they still are working on offering the property in parcels, but he couldn't yet say how many parcels will be offered. A buyer could potentially buy a portion of the land or the entire property.

"I think because the minimum amount to bid is well below the assessed value, it's an extremely good deal if that's all it goes for," Temple said.

"We anticipate competitive bidding."

Tom King, chairman of the board for Camp Virginia Jaycee, said the Virginia Jaycees sold the camp to Camp Virginia Jaycee in 2001 for $100,000. In 2003, Camp Virginia Jaycee formed Dare to Care Charities, a nonprofit, which maintained the property, and Camp Virginia Jaycee ran the camp.

Dare to Care donated the property to Hope Tree Family Services in 2012, because it couldn't financially cover the maintenance and necessary improvements the property needed, King said.

Hope Tree at the time was leasing a group home on the property, King said.

Hope Tree has spent $1 million on the upkeep of the property, including $250,000 in physical upgrades, such as a new roofs for the cabin and a new pool, Early said, adding that when Dare to Care donated the property to Hope Tree, the nonprofit agreed to keep it open as a camp for three to five years.

"We've given it every effort to try to keep the camp alive," Early said.

Early said the nonprofit has not been able to pay for expenses of that camp with the property's events.

"It's a beautiful place; it's in a great location," Early said. "Unfortunately, it's not a market we've been able to tap for events."

Early said they gave the camp a "full-hearted effort" but have not been able to cover its expenses with camp revenue.

"It's not good stewardship of the resources we have to continue to operate a facility that costs us money," Early said.

King said the camp made just barely enough to break even. Last year, about 300 people attended the camp while in previous years the camp saw 800 campers annually, King said.

King said buying the property is not currently within Camp Virginia Jaycee's grasp, but there's always the possibility they could receive donations to buy and then upgrade the camp, which he estimates would cost about $2 million to $3 million.

"The campers are the big losers in all of this," King said. "They no longer have a camp and a place to call home."