You are going to want to be a part of this. On Thursday, April 30, from 6:00-10:00 p.m., the Wampler Foundation’s First Annual Poker Tournament gets under way, and it is sure to be fun, exciting, and exhilarating. The tables are already going fast and there are no “at the door” registrations for this exclusive event. Register at www.wamplerfoundation.org — individually, as a gift for someone else, or start rounding up your friends and register for a table of ten. Cards will be swishing and chips will be clicking right away at 6:00, so participants will want to be there when the door opens. A trophy will be awarded to the last person standing with their name engraved on a perpetual trophy. The Tournament will take place at the spectacular Coronado Yacht Club over looking Glorietta Bay, with a no-host bar available for refreshments.
But, of course, all this fun is really the side event to what your participation supports: The Wampler Foundation. The Wampler Foundation is a non-profit 501(c)(3) corporation that supports children with disabilities by financing, partially or in full, the registration for a summer camp in the outback of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. The camp is designed to specifically encourage children with disabilities to expand their understanding of their own abilities and potential through a connection with the expansive, open space of unadulterated wildness. One quote of a camper from the Wampler Foundation video that beautifully articulates the profound impact this camp has on young lives, is this: ” [At camp I saw that I] was not a wheelchair kid, but just a kid who uses a wheelchair to get around.” — An important reminder that we are not defined by our circumstances – whether we have a physical disability or not. Each year 250 kids are able to attend the camp because of Steve’s and the Foundation’s commitment to these kids and their families. Steve explained to me that because families with disabilities already have a lot of costs that other families do not have to incur, providing a scholarship is imperative. 
Steve personally knows how an outdoor camp, such as this camp at Hawley Lake, revolutionizes lives. Born with Cerebral Palsy, he was transformed by his experience there as a 9-year-old boy. One summer, his parents just put him on a bus and sent him off. He continued to go every year. I asked Steve if his parents understood the impact that this experience would have on their young son: “No,” he said with a laugh, they weren’t outdoor people at all.” But he knows what a difference summer camp made in his life, and he wants to make sure that as many kids as possible can experience having the whole world, literally, opened up to them. 
And the difference is not just an ordinary life. Most of us do not accomplish what Steve accomplishes. Steve accent of El Capitan is well-known by Coronado locals, but for the rest of our community, you need to know of this man’s commitment is not just to overcoming obstacles, but actually creating opportunities to push and challenge himself to the highest levels. He explains in the movie Wampler’s Accent: “My dream is to inspire kids to achieve what they want to in life.” While Steve addresses having a physical disability, his charge that “[whatever has happened to you], it’s not going to change. I don’t care if you’re mad about it, I don’t care if you’re sad about it, [if you don’t get out there,] you’re missing out on life.” This is a powerful statement for all of us.
While the inspirational experiences for the kids are foremost, there is a nuts and bolts reality about financing these kids to camp. Wampler’s Accent, which chronicles Steve’s heroic climb up El Capitan in Yosemite National Forest, has already won 35 film festival awards. This phenomenal movie is wholly owned by the Wampler Foundation – so 100% of the proceeds go to the Foundation. Now, besides promoting the film, Steve and the Foundation also spend a tremendous amount of time writing and applying for grants. Steve explains, however, that it’s the support of individuals and fundraisers such at the First Annual Poker Tournament Fundraiser that make up 30% of the contribution to the Foundation. In addition, it’s events like the Poker Tournament, that allow Steve to connect with others who share his vision.
The funding not only covers tuition costs for students, but also the running of the camp, a cook, a director, and the 30-40 young adults who are privileged to work at the camp each year. In addition, the Foundation works collaboratively with similar camps across the country to support kids in other parts of the country. The Foundation is dreaming big. The long-term goal is to create an endowment for the Foundation, so that funding each and every year, isn’t such a challenge. In addition, the Foundation would like to find a piece of wilderness in San Diego County that would be the foundation for a second camp. But for now, Summer, 2015 is fast approaching, and kids with disabilities are out there waiting, hoping, to get a spot at the camp. This Poker Tournament is your way to make it happen.
All Photos Courtesy of the Wampler Foundation.
