Remembering Camp NYABIC

This section was last updated on October 4, 2003.

Camp NYABIC had one of the most spacious and beautiful settings of any Long Island day camp. Located on Johnson Avenue in the Ronkonkoma/Lakeland area of Central Suffolk County and bordering the northern end of the Connetquot River State Park, NYABIC, which was founded by the New York Association for Brain Injured Children, was created to enable handicapped and learning disabled children to enjoy a day camp experience similar to that of other children. For years, the camp director was Mr. Marty Ross.

During the summer of 1970 NYABIC was located on Wheeler Road in Hauppauge, which would be the future site of Trailblazer Day Camp. One of the early directors was Dr. Walter Pinsker.

NYABIC's physical education, arts and crafts and music appreciation activities were designed to enable children to develop those skills at their own pace and within their individual capabilities. Regular instructional swims were also geared towards the children’s' development rates.

At NYABIC, children also got to take advantage of the vast woods surrounding the main campsite through hiking treks, some of which would take the children to a nearby pond. Afternoons featured free swims and pre-dismissal ice cream.

In the early 1980s, NYABIC moved from the Lakeland/Ronkonkoma property (which is now the Lakeland County Park) to the grounds of the former Hills School at the corner of Deer Park Road and Half Hollow Road in Dix Hills. By the end of the 1980s, NYABIC ceased to exist, and its former Hills School locale has since become a condominium development.

NYABIC's contributions to the Long Island Day Camp scene will be missed, but the memories linger on for numerous campers and counselors.

NYABIC Traditions

Here are some of the unique traditions of Camp NYABIC:

The camp day began at 9:00 AM every morning and ended at 3:30 PM in the afternoon.
White Carriage of Huntington provided bus transportation.
Most major Camp NYABIC field trips took place on Tuesdays or Thursdays, although there have been a few Wednesday and Friday trips. Some of the field trip sites have included the Long Island Game Farm in Manorville, Jones Beach, the Bronx Zoo, Adventureland in Farmingdale, the Old Bethpage Village Restoration, and the Westbury Music Fair for special children's matinees for camp groups.
The teen groups had bowling trips every Tuesday and Thursday morning. NYABIC teens bowled at East Islip Lanes.
There was a barbecue cookout every Friday. Hot Dogs were the main items on the menu.
In 1973, there were two overnight sleep outs: one during week three and one during week seven. These sleep outs gave campers an opportunity to "rough it" in tents that were set up either in the surrounding woods or on the large athletic field.
By 1976, there would be only one overnight sleep out: the week three one. The sleep out that had been scheduled for week seven was replaced by a camp carnival.

Camp NYABIC People and Miscellanea

Mr. Marty Ross was Camp NYABIC's director for years. His assistant director in 1976 and 1977 was Mrs. Fran Werner.
By the time NYABIC moved to Dix Hills in the early 1980s, Mr. Donald Johnson had taken over as the camp's director.
Mrs. Toni Beers ran the Long Island chapter of Camp NYABIC's parent company, the New York Association for Brain Injured Children (later renamed the Association for Children with Learning Disabilities).
While I attended NYABIC, my counselors included Dan, who was the brother of one of the campers in my group in 1973, Bob in 1976, Shelley in 1977, and Noel, whom I had as a junior counselor nearly every year I was there.
One of my favorite counselors from outside my group was Geri, a slim, dark-haired woman of about five-feet-ten or five-feet-eleven inches tall who worked at NYABIC in 1976. She always used to wear a bandanna on her head, and I used to be so awed by how tall she was!

I should mention a few things here about the enrollment declines that plagued NYABIC in the late-1970s:

When this author first attended NYABIC in the summer of 1973, there were as many as fourteen to sixteen groups of eight to ten campers each, and there were many more girls and many more thirteen-to-sixteen-year-olds than there would be in later years.
By 1977, NYABIC had only seven groups of campers, and because there were next to no girls over age eleven enrolled that year, there was only one all-girls group above the pre-school level, and there was no teen girls group. I think NYABIC had a total enrollment of less than seventy campers in 1977.
NYABIC's enrollment free fall was such a concern that Mr. Ross called a mandatory parents meeting on the night of the annual camp carnival to discuss the future of NYABIC as a program.
NYABIC's enrollment decline trend was reversed, if only briefly, in 1978, when there were enough campers for nine or ten groups.
According to the "Annual Day Camp Guide" article in the February 1984 issue of Long Island Life magazine, Camp NYABIC in 1983 had an estimated 100 campers ages 3-17 and a camper/counselor ratio of 4/1.

NYABIC Fashion

Here are some of the fashions and accessories that were part of the Camp NYABIC experience:

In 1973, campers wore institutional style white button-down short-sleeved shirts with the words "CAMP N.Y.A.B.I.C." on the left chest pocket. How plain!
By 1976, the NYABIC uniform had changed to a much more fun design: white t-shirt with the words "Camp NYABIC silk-screen printed in bright green in the stylized shape of a circus tent.
The 1976 camp bags were dark green canvas with a bright yellow screen-printed picture of three tall pine trees and the words "Camp NYABIC" spelled out with logs in yellow. In 1978, new camp bags were unveiled featuring a picture of the familiar 1970s "smiley face" in green lines against a yellow background on the front. The back of the bag was kelly green.
In the mid-1970s, I remember an arts and crafts project in which we all tie-dyed our t-shirts in various colors. Some kids, particularly girls, tie-dyed pairs of white jeans as well! I even wrote for the camp newsletter on essay on the popularity of tie-dyed clothes at school and at camp.
White painters/carpenters pants were really popular with teenaged girls and young women between 1976 and 1980, and NYABIC was where I first got turned on to the fad. Since there were hardly any teenaged girls among NYABIC's campers between 1976 and 1978, I never really saw any campers wear the white painters pants, but one of the NYABIC junior counselors, a five-feet-nine-inch tall gal with long blond hair named Joelyn, regularly wore white Smith's painters pants in the summers of 1976 and 1977--usually once every week. I loved seeing her wear those. (I just wish someone had a picture of her wearing them!)

Camp NYABIC Music and Songs

During my time at Camp NYABIC, groups of campers would create their own songs in praise of the camp--usually done to the tune of a popular hit. In 1977, there was even a camp song contest. My group's (Group 7) contribution was the following, done to the tune of The Beatle's "A Hard Day's Night":

It's been a long camp day;
We ain't goin' swimming. No way!
And we hate to hear our counselor say
We're not gettin' ice cream today.
NOTE: I don't remember what came immediately after that last line, but I do remember the end of the main verse and the refrain:
Because we love Camp NYABIC!
Marty Ross, he is a really great boss.
Then there's Fran, she's always lending a hand.
(Repeat main verse once, and then end.)

As I recall, however, the only non-preschool girls’ group we had that year won that 1977 song contest: Group 6, "Marty's Angels." Their song was done to the tune of "Day By Day" from Godspell.

Now here are some of the songs that were popular on the radio during my four summers at Camp NYABIC:

1973

"Playground In My Mind" by Clint Holmes
"Bad, Bad Leroy Brown" by Jim Croce
"Brother Louie" by Stories
"Live and Let Die" and "My Love" by Paul McCartney
"You Are the Sunshine of My Life" by Stevie Wonder
"Diamond Girl" by Seals and Crofts
"Delta Dawn" by Helen Reddy

1976

"Movin' On" by Brass Construction
"Silly Love Songs" by Paul McCartney
"Don't Go Breakin' My Heart" by Elton John and Kiki Dee
"I'll Be Good To You" by the Brothers Johnson
"Devil Woman" by Cliff Richard

1977

"Lido Shuffle" by Boz Scaggs
"Whatcha Gonna Do?" by Pablo Cruise
"Got to Give it Up" by Marvin Gaye
"Sir Duke" and "I Wish" by Stevie Wonder
Anything by Fleetwood Mac

1978

"Baker Street" by Gerry Rafferty
"Shame" by Evelyn "Champagne" King
Anything by the Bee Gees or Andy Gibb
"Boogie Oogie Oogie" by A Taste of Honey
"With A Little Luck" and "London Town" by Paul McCartney
Songs from the movie Grease
"Last Dance" by Donna Summer
"Thank God It's Friday"

NOTE TO NYABIC ALUMNI READING THIS PAGE: Since many of you may have gone to the James E. Allen Learning Center at one time, you may be interested in my little James E. Allen memories page, which is a belated 25th Anniversary tribute since JEA opened in the 1973/74 school year. To look at my James E. Allen Page, click here.

If you went to Camp NYABIC or were a camper or counselor there and you would like to share your memories of that place, as well as any tidbits on the history of NYABIC, please e-mail at either drjackso@suffolk.lib.ny.us or david_j_6@hotmail.com.

Here are a couple links dealing with special education programs and facilities here on Long Island:

1. Western Suffolk BOCES at http://www.wsboces.org.

2. Eastern Suffolk BOCES at http://www.sricboces.org.

3. Nassau BOCES at http://www.nassauboces.org.

4. Unofficial James E. Allen Learning Center Memories Website at https://www.angelfire.com/ny5/limemories/JamesEAllen/JamesEAllen.html.

5. Center for Developmental Disabilities (formerly the Nassau Center for Emotionally Disturbed Children)—The address is http://www.centerfor.com.

6. Adults and Children with Learning and Developmental Disabilities—This organization, when it was known as the Association for Children with Learning Disabilities, was the corporate parent of Camp NYABIC. The web address is http://www.acldd.org.