DANIELLE DUPUY
Staff Writer
After 45 years of providing entertainment and fun for a community of adults and children with disabilities, Camp Joan Mier in Malibu will be closing its doors this month.
Regional centers for the disabled decided to close down the camp because it had been accruing a $400,000 annual deficit. “With losses from the camp program approaching half a million dollars a year, the Board reviewed the options and determined that if we kept Camp Joan Mier, we would put the other camp program and other programs in jeopardy and therefore hundreds of campers and clients would not have programs to help them live independently and become productive members of their communities,” said President of AbilityFirst Lori Gangemi.
Steven Rosenthal, director of public relations for AbilityFirst, said that Camp Joan Mier was a great place for disabled children to learn how to tie their shoes and make their beds. The campers will be moved to Camp Joan Mier’s sister camp in the San Bernardino Mountains.
In remembrance of the founder of the camp, Joan Mier, a wishing well was built, so that the serenity, peace, and opportunity of the camp could live on forever.
10-13-2005