Avalon home for blind is beach haven

AVALON - Tatyanna Ditzenberger had never felt the sand between her toes, the sea breeze gently caress her face, or heard the waves crash against the beach.

That was until last week, when the blind 14-year-old was able to spend a week at the Shore with 14 other visually impaired children, a gift afforded them by the Helen L. Diller Vacation Home for the Blind.

The three-story house sits two blocks off the beach and allows visually impaired children ages 7 through 15 to spend a week going to the beach, trekking the Ocean City boardwalk, and swimming in Lake Nummy within Belleplain State Forest.

Unlike many last week, Tatyanna's stay was her first vacation ever, her mother, Diane Gray, said. Tatyanna, of Bel Air, Md., is one of about 125 children who will stop at the camp for weeklong vacations from June to August.

The home was founded in 1972 by members of the Stone Harbor Lions Club and bears Diller's name because she was a local philanthropist who provided some of the funds to start the home, said Chuck Covington, vice president of the board of directors that operates the home.

The home is operated as a nonprofit under the Challenged Children's Charity Corp.

A one-week vacation at the home would cost about $1,500 per child, but because of donations and grants - the home's only revenue - the children are able to stay for free, said Emily Mulhern, director of the home. Covington said it costs $165,000 to $180,000 a year to operate.

"A lot of these kids would never be able to come to a camp like this if it wasn't free," said Mulhern, who works during the school year as a teacher for visually impaired students in Cecil County, Md.

Mulhern, 24, and assistant director Nicole Bruno manage the camp with 11 counselors and are aided by two chefs who prepare dinner.

Throughout the week, campers take trips to Morey's Pier in Wildwood and the shops at Stone Harbor, with boys and girls usually going on different days, in part because the home only has one 12-passenger van.

For many of the campers like Tatyanna, the week marks their first time on the beach and at an amusement park. To be part of that experience, some of the counselors said, makes the job even more rewarding.

"It's even better for us," said second-year counselor Jenna McElroy, a senior majoring in special education for the visually impaired at Kutztown University. "It makes you start to appreciate everything."

During the campers' stays at the home, they become attached to the counselors and eventually know each - and their moods - by voice.

"Some will ask, 'What's wrong?' and I say I'm tired and they say, 'Yeah, I can tell,' " said third-year camp counselor Megan Creaven, a recent graduate of Lock Haven University.

Though the counselor's job can be tough - one camper lost her glass eye in a lake last summer - many are still in college and say the job gives them experiences they could not get in the classroom.

"People forget that they're still kids," said Creaven. "They're different, but they're still kids."

  "Coming here, everyone's the same," Mulhern added. "I think that really is the reason kids love coming here because they aren't visually impaired here."

The home promotes a "welcoming environment," said Susan Nutt, who sent her 9-year-old daughter Isabelle to the home for the second straight year.

"She talks about it throughout the year," Nutt said.

On Thursday afternoon, Tatyanna lay on a beach towel under the afternoon sun, along with other campers.

The teenager glowed as she spoke about the sand beneath her toes and the sound of crashing waves. She had only one complaint.

"The seagulls. I didn't like the seagulls."