COPIAH COUNTY, Miss. ( WJTV ) – Camp Kamassa, located in Copiah County, offers a full-on experience to children with special needs. The camp provides a worry-free zone for those children to enjoy life and have fun.

Since 2007, Mary Kitchens , the founder of Camp Kamassa, has set out to provide a week-long camping experience for children with special needs in the state.

“It is so amazing. But this week is just especially amazing because we started really planning and working on this in 2007, so it’s been a long time. We started building in 2018, and you know, we didn’t know how long it would take. It seemed to be a while, but we felt like everything has happened in God’s time. And so, it’s happened like it should happen,” Kitchens said.

This week was the first week that kids were allowed at the camp. For Bridgette Iupe, the director for Radically Against Dystrophy, she’s happy to see the memories that are being created.

“The reason why I do this camp is 100% to see the kids smile. You know that they are in their element. They’re with their friends who are exactly like them. And to see them, to be able to do all the things that they don’t get to do in the daily life, when they get here, and you see them just light up, and they’re so happy, and they’re with all their friends who are exactly like them, there’s no difference. And this is what makes the best week of the year for these kids,” Iupe said.

Kitchens said that visiting other states led her to build the unique camp in Mississippi.

“Back at 2007, I went around and visited other camps in other states, and I saw what other states had and Mississippi didn’t have. I went to 14 different facilities from Kentucky, North Carolina, Texas, Florida, all in between. And I looked at what they had, and I thought Mississippi ought to be able to have these these children deserve it every bit, much as these other states have,” she said.

The camp is still undergoing instruction and is expected to fully open in 2025.

Thanks for signing up!

Watch for us in your inbox.

Subscribe Now

Daily News

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WJTV.