FORT WAYNE, Ind. — At 16, Campbell Wood could spend her summer focused only on her own goals as a youth Paralympian and sitting volleyball athlete. Instead, she keeps returning to a place that helped shape her childhood — this time to make sure younger campers feel the same sense of belonging.
Wood is in her third year volunteering at Turnstone’s All Abilities Camp in Fort Wayne. She first came to Turnstone when she was 8 or 9, after a childhood marked by scleroderma and the amputation of a leg at age 7.
Turnstone, Wood told WPTA, has been a constant source of support. She described the organization as a family community and a place that has stood behind her through life’s challenges.
Now, the former young camper is the person leading activities, encouraging children and celebrating their achievements.
The All Abilities Camp began in 2020 through a partnership between Turnstone and the YMCA. The program gives children of all abilities a week of activities, but camp leaders say its deeper purpose is connection. High school- and college-age volunteers build buddy relationships with campers, giving children opportunities to find friends and mentors.
That is where Wood’s story carries a particularly powerful Heartitude lesson: Sometimes giving from the heart means returning to the place where someone once gave to you. Wood knows what it feels like to have people in her corner. Now, through her time and presence, she is becoming that person for someone else. It is a quiet, lived example of the Go Give It mindset — taking the support that helped you grow and turning it outward.
For the campers beside her this summer, Wood is more than an accomplished athlete. She is someone who understands, someone who encourages and someone who can show them through her own life that belonging is possible.
The camp once had her back. Now Campbell Wood is helping make sure the next child feels that same support.