NSSRA wins awards | The Northbrook Tower
Northern Suburban Special Recreation Association announced one of its staff members along with NSSRA’s long-running program Camp Wigwam have received awards from Illinois Park and Recreation’s Therapeutic Recreation Section at their annual meeting held Jan. 28 at the Hyatt Regency in Chicago.
Camp Wigwam was honored with the Program of the Year award, and Recreation Specialist Mark Schultz received the New Professional of the Year award.
NSSRA participants ages 21 and older have been spending a week at Camp Wigwam in Maine every summer for decades. Each year dozens of participants pack their bags, leave their families and jobs, join their friends and board a plane bound for eight days of swimming, hiking, crafting and archery.
Camp owner and director Bob Strauss was present to receive the award for Camp Wigwam. A hero to NSSRA participants, Strauss first formed the partnership with NSSRA in 1977 when he volunteered for the agency while a student at Lake Forest College. The rest, as they say, is history, and NSSRA participants have been spending their summers in Maine for nearly 40 years since.
“We started this group off with children, 8- and 9-year-olds, that came to Camp Wigwam for their very first experience,” Strauss said. “So many of them have stuck with the program, it is absolutely inspiring.”
Mark Schultz, who coincidentally has led many Camp Wigwam trips in the past few years, has been a Recreation Specialist at NSSRA for almost four years and has spearheaded their athletics and fitness programs for the past year. Last summer he led a record 10 NSSRA Gator Track & Field athletes to the Special Olympics State Summer Games in June. He has also fostered partnerships with both Northwestern and Loyola universities, creating one-of-a-kind opportunities for NSSRA athletes to attend and even participate in their official sporting events. These outings create opportunities for NSSRA’s Gator athletes to experience both the camaraderie and competition of sports up close.