How One Person Can [Has] Change The Lives of Many Others !

This story begins in 1911 when the New York State's "Letchworth Village" was built on 2,300 acres in North Rockland to serve our intellectually disabled in majestic stone residential buildings, modeled after Monticello. It had a noble mission. 75 years later, in the 60s, it was serving over 5,500 adults and children and NYS was found to be guilty of abuse, neglect, and abysmal conditions.

Thus, Rockland experienced a transformation of how our intellectually disabled should be served, this time with parental involvement and not-for-profit care-providing charities. A new era was born. One of the many parent organizations and not-for-profit service-providing charities were founded by a champion of human rights for our intellectually disabled, Kathy Lukens, who chose the name Venture for all her plans. One of Kathy's many enlightened initiatives was to create an all-day free summer camp for our intellectually disabled on a parcel of the Letchworth property in 1971. It was the first of its kind in New York State. When it opened, it was more like raising the American flag at Iwo Jima, an exclamation of a victory. Her vision became Camp Venture, and it remains a historic reminder of a revolution of humanity.

The sight of all players and coaches was stirring, running, smiling, laughing, yelling, and cheering was heavenly music. Happiness was in the air. The Camp was an optic message of the difference between the neglect of a state institution to a celebration of life. But use, time, and Mother Nature took their toll on the Camp, which drastically needed a facelift.

This brings us to the heart of our story. It's about a believer, who was/is a champion of the rights of our young intellectually disabled to engage in sports activities just the same as every other youngster. His name is Bill Schule. He turned a bright light on the world of intellectually disabled participation in sports at the turn of this Century.

Bill introduced "BuddyBall Soccer" to Rockland in the Fall of 2002. Basketball, tennis, and track all followed. Of course, there were other devotees in the campaign for our intellectually disabled and all children. Our community is all about family, children, and yes, our handicapped brothers and Sisters. Hats off to all of those who have and are still doing God's work.

Bill is a visionary as well as a missionary of implementation. His fingerprints are all over the multi-purpose sports complex we pass on Veterans Highway.

In 2002 Bill took his passions to the extended Venture family and joined the Venture Foundation Board of Directors; 12 years later in 2014 he became the Executive Director of the Venture Foundation. From that date on, the lives of Venture's consumers have been richly rewarded with high energy, imaginative entertainment, and fun, as well as a million other good deeds.

As a resident of Orangetown for 6+ decades and the Past President of Venture for 42 years, I had the joy of witnessing the values, energy, and passion Bill brought to the lives of Ventures' residents [and their families]. But what has stunned me most is what he has done to give new life to our historic inspirational Camp, a landmark of the struggle for respect of people with special needs.

I close by cheering loudly about the new pool at the Camp. One of the sides of the pool has a zero-grade entrance to allow people a comfortable, safe way to enter the pool only going in as far as they are comfortable. This feature allows all manifestations of movement disorders to be avoided in a safe gradual way. No steps, no ladders!

This means everything to me. Many years ago, I was involved with the world of wheel-chair-bound people. I raised my voice to deaf ears that every pool should have access to the water from no water to a safe level gradually reached. This new pool is totally accessible for the wheel-chaired bound, elderly people, little children, etc. - no steps, no ladders, no barriers.

In designing the new pool, Bill helped tear down another barrier to participation by all physically limited people who want to enjoy a pool.

One person can make a difference. Visit the Venture Foundation to learn more about the new recreation complex and how you can help.

Https://venturefoundation.org