LEESBURG —Ed Sasser had been trying for years to convince his roommate, Roger, to attend Camp Pioneer with him, according to his mother, Pat Sasser, a member of Ortega United Methodist Church in Jacksonville. This year he succeeded, and Roger is a changed person because of it.

"Roger needed camp more than anybody," she said. "He is a really negative person…very negative on everything. People didn’t want to eat with him. He wouldn’t go to bed. He was fussing all the time."

But after some loving correction from the camp’s director, the Rev. Don Hughes, and some of the camp’s counselors, Roger’s attitude turned around.

"Pretty soon he was doing what he was supposed to do and really enjoying it," Sasser said. "By the end of the week he had really straightened up."

Camp Pioneer is a two-week summer camp program for campers aged 16 and older who are mentally handicapped, but are able to learn and have the skills to help themselves, according to Hughes, who started the program 10 years ago with his wife, Sunny.

The camp is staffed completely by volunteers and supported by donations from individuals, churches and the conference’s Missions ministry and Health and Wholeness Task Force.

The camp began with 28 campers and 12 counselors, also known as "buddies." This year, there were 72 campers and 31 buddies during the two weeks, according to Hughes.

For the campers, it is an important time to be in community with each other, according to Sarah-Beth Priest, a member of First United Methodist Church, Port Orange, and a teacher of mentally challenged students at Atlantic High School. Priest is the camp’s new director, replacing the Hughes’, who retired after this year’s camp.

"It [Camp Pioneer] is not work, and it’s not a group home. It’s kind of like a vacation," she said. "There’s a carnival, swimming, bowling. And there’s spiritual growth at devotions and chapel."

She said the campers aren’t the only ones who grow through the Camp Pioneer experience. The counselors do, too.

"The counselors are there for the campers, unconditionally, 24 hours a day," Priest said. "It’s not like they [counselors] give them [campers] a craft and walk away. They sit and talk about their lives, work, home. The counselors learn to be unselfish and how to give. They give so much in a week’s time."