Local leaders head to Lock-Up for Muscular Dystrophy Association

DANIEL CLIFTON • PICAYUNE EDITOR

MARBLE FALLS — Several Highland Lakes residents and leaders are headed to jail March 25, and they need your help to get bailed out. Only, you aren’t really helping them.

“The most obvious thing we do — other than our support groups — is offer summer camp,” said Tanya Eychner. And she’s not talking about summer camp for the “jailbirds” but for the hundreds of Central Texas kids who are depending on them — and you. The campers Eychner are referring to are the area youth with muscular dystrophy or the 42 other muscle-related diseases. None of which, she said, has a cure.

“The camp is for kids 6-17 years old and is fully accessible to them,” Eychner said. That means the kids who spend their lives in wheelchairs or are limited to what they typically can do get to enjoy a full summer camp experience. “They get to go zip-lining, swimming and do all the things kids usually get to do during summer camp.”

But it costs more than $1,000 per camper for a week of camp, so the Muscular Dystrophy Association taps area leaders and community leaders — including yours truly — to spend a little time behind bars in an effort to raise money for the summer camp. This year’s MDA Lock-Up for the Highland Lakes area is March 25 at River City Grille from 11 a.m.-2 p.m.

Before that date, “jail birds” and MDA officials hope people will head to the www.mda.org to make a donation.

You can click on “find an event” and type in the local ZIP code, which will get you to the Marble Falls Lock-Up page. Ssome of the leaders are listed on the side, or if you know a “jailbird,” just enter his or her name.

But it’s not about the jailbird. It’s about kids such as Cameron. He’s 11 years old and learned he had muscular dystrophy in 2007. In a letter he wrote me, Cameron said his favorite time of the year is summer camp because he gets to do things like zip-lining, fishing and dancing.

“Camp allows me to be myself and be around other kids with muscular dystrophy to form lifelong friendships,” he wrote. Last year, Cameron even got to meet one of his heroes at camp — Batman.

“A lot of these kids tend to be shy and introverted, but for this week at camp, they are with kids just like them doing things all kids love to do,” Eychner said. “It’s a parent-free week, and they just love it. They are going all week — with some time for resting — and by the end of the week, they are exhausted, but they talk about camp the rest of the year. It’s amazing.”

A cadre of volunteers help make the camp extra special. For every child at camp, a volunteer pairs up with him or her the entire week. This volunteer, Eychner explained, serves as the youth’s caregiver (ensuring any medicines and other needs are tended to) and compatriot. The volunteers must be at least 16 years old, and many return year after year including several who are now in their 30s and 40s.

Along with summer camp, MDA raises money to support research and client support services. The client support services are a major mission of the organization. Eychner explained that MDA organizes clinics for their clients and client families (of which there are more than 1,100 in the Central Texas service area), which bring together all the physicians, specialists, physical therapy services and even equipment technicians to one location several times a year. By organizing clinics in such a manner, the families don’t have to worry about making numerous trips throughout the year.

“We bring them altogether in one spot,” she said.

Along with the summer camp, funds raised through local MDA efforts helps with the clinics and support services. Eychner said money raised through the local Lock-Ups stays in the local service area.

“With muscle diseases, you may not know who has one,” she said. “You may be helping somebody you see in the grocery store and didn’t even realize they had a muscle disease. There are 43 different muscle diseases, and MDA works to help those with them. We offer a lot of client services, but we can’t do it without people supporting us and supporting events such as the Lock-Up. We’re tremendously thankful for the ‘jailbirds’ and the community.”

So go to www.MDA.org, look up the Marble Falls event and support one of the “jailbirds,” because in the end, you’re really helping Cameron and other kids hoping to go to camp this summer.

daniel@thepicayune.com