About

Exceptional Citizens Week is a co‐ed, week-long camp. Our campers are persons age 9 and above with intellectual and/or physical challenges.

All campers receive one‐to‐one care and experience a week of horseback riding, swimming, boating, arts and crafts, and many more special events that they otherwise might not be able to enjoy. The 300+ dedicated volunteers and many generous donors allow EC Week to offer this great week to campers at no cost to campers’ families and caregivers. The camp is wheelchair accessible and provides an on-site healthcare team available 24/7.

EC Week has offered a genuine summer camp experience and welcomed people of all faiths. It was held annually at Camp Fatima, through August 2024.

The idea was first discussed more than 70 years ago in Concord, New Hampshire by Bill Haller, President of The United Life and the father of a child with Down Syndrome, Dr. Tom Walker, a pediatrician at St. Paul’s School, and Rev. Richard O. Boner, Associate Pastor at St. John’s Parish. They were talking about a camp for children with intellectual disabilities. Father Boner began to work on the idea and in 1954, Exceptional Citizens’ (EC) Week was born

Without much experience working with children with intellectual disabilities, EC Week volunteers teamed up with student nurses from Sacred Heart Hospital in Manchester, New Hampshire, a group of Sisters of Mercy, a group of Sisters of St. Francis and seminarians from St. John’s Seminary. Their goal was to provide a fun, rewarding camp experience for 25 boys and girls.

EC Week has grown since that first year to include up to 170 campers and more than 300 volunteers each year from around the country. The idea Mr. Haller, Dr. Walker and Father Boner discussed more than seven decades ago has turned into a ‘unique week’ treasured by many exceptional citizens, families, and volunteers. It has also spurred the formation of similar camps nationwide.

EC Week is a highlight in the lives of campers every year. Each camper is treated as an exceptional citizen. We welcome volunteers and campers of any race, sex, creed, color, religion, orientation, disability, national and ethnic origin to all the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to any camper at any camp.

All activities are centered around the camper’s interests and each camper is catered to by a qualified, enthusiastic and energetic volunteer staff, many of whom also consider the week a highlight in their year, and their lives. The counselors combine talents with the camp’s ample facilities to create a magical and memorable program. The campers enjoy activities that they might otherwise never have the opportunity to try.

EC Week 2025 will be held at Camp Pembroke, Pembroke, MA on August 17-23. Check our Send a Camper page for the camper application link.