Camp Leo

August 2024 Issue

by Elizabeth Skenes Millen
Photography (top & right) by Lindsay Pettinicchi Photography, LLC

While Hilton Head Island is filled to the brim with tourists each July, there’s an extra special group of visitors here for a weeklong adventure of their own. Camp Leo was started in 1975 by the Lions Club on Hilton Head Island, and it has welcomed legally blind to fully blind children for 49 years. The camp, which is housed at St. Andrew By-The-Sea United Methodist Church on Pope Avenue, opens the third week of July each year to campers ages 7-19.

One would think since every camper is vision impaired that the activities would be limited, but not for this bunch. They don’t leave a fun stone unturned! Broken into groups by age, each group does activities on their own, as well as participates in camp-wide projects, meals and inspiration. Don’t think you won’t see these campers at the pool and beach, in the marsh kayaking, fishing, even at miniature golf or on the golf range for older campers. They also love taking in a Gregg Russell show, visiting Coastal Discovery Museum and The Sandbox Interactive Museum, and going to some of the fire stations.

On Wednesday night during camp, all age groups come together for a community cookout and talent show. There, some of the campers tell why Camp Leo is so special to them. Well, No.1 is because it’s fun and at the beach. What’s not to like? However, these children face extra challenges in navigating their days and moving through life. One girl told the audience, “I can be myself here. It’s easy to make friends with everyone, not just a friend group.”

Being an accepted part of your peers has been a basic need for eons. At Camp Leo, campers can come together and all fit in. They don’t have to explain how or why they’re different. They just get to have fun, learn new things, make new friends, and be carefree.

But that doesn’t mean they don’t do daily chores of making their bunks, putting away supplies, and cleaning up after themselves, which is all part of building self-esteem, instilling responsibility, and nurturing that wonderful feeling of accomplishment.

The children come from all over South Carolina. There are pick up points across the state for parents to drop off their camper(s), and the camp takes it from there. This year there were nearly 40 campers.

Steven Faulk, from Conway, SC, started attending Camp Leo when he was 7 years old. Now, at age 48, he is a Camp Leo counselor who loves every minute of it. “Since I was a kid, I never wanted to miss coming to Camp Leo.” In all these years, he has only missed three, and can tell you the exact year and reason he missed. “This camp means so much to the children. Us adults strive to help them have fun, build character and be helpful,” Steven said.

Lions International was founded over 100 years ago in response to social problems created by WWI and industrialization. After the Lions International Convention in 1925, where guest speaker Helen Keller challenged the group to become “knights of the blind in the crusade against darkness” all clubs began a century-long mission impacting hundreds of millions of lives through vision related work.

Beaufort County offers four options for those wanting to join a Lions Club: the Hilton Head Noon Club; Sun City Club; Bluffton Club; and Beaufort Club. Membership is by invitation, but people are welcome to visit a meeting and express interest. If you have a servant’s heart and want to make a positive difference in the community, there is a Lion’s Club that will gladly welcome you in.

Each club does both service projects and fundraisers. Three of the clubs come together to sponsor Camp Leo, which is free to campers. There is a Camp Leo Charity Golf Tournament, usually held in the fall, dedicated to helping raise funds for the camp. However, these clubs do way more than Camp Leo. Some of the projects the Hilton Head Noon Club supports are facilitating hearing and vision screenings, providing optometry services to Volunteers in Medicine Eye Clinic in Ridgeland, volunteering at the Sandalwood Food Pantry, giving gas cards to pediatric cancer patient families, stuffing angel holiday stockings for soldiers, collecting and distributing used eyeglasses. and much more.

Lions Club International is the world’s largest service club. Their motto is: Where there’s a need, there’s a Lion. They do great work! Melvin Jones, Founder of Lions International, said, You can’t get very far until you start doing something for somebody else.” This is a dynamic group who truly does for others, and the Lowcountry—and the world—is better for it.

Join the Club:
The Hilton Head Noon Lions Club meets the 4th Wednesday every month from Noon to 1:00 p.m. at the Hilton Head Public Library.

For more information: email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or
call Scott Severson at 843-422-6489.

Website: https://e-clubhouse.org/sites/hiltonhinoon/index.php

Facebook: Hilton Head Island Noon Lions Club

Lions Club International: www.lionsclubs.org