Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
When Rick and Deanna Hicks, avid NASCAR fans and owners of Keystone Designs, heard about a new camp, The Victory Junction Gang Camp, being built in honor of the late Adam Petty, they wanted to help.
Andrea Van Cleave, outside sales representative at the time and now supervisor of the custom countertop shop on CR 450N, near Warsaw, made the initial contact with representatives of Victory Junction. After further investigation, it was decided that they would donate countertops to the new facility, which will provide eight one-week-long summer camps for chronically ill children. Each camp will be "disease specific," open to children with the same or similar illnesses and disorders.
Twenty DuPont Corian¨ tops - 16 kitchenettes and four others - valued at $25,000, were donated. All the countertops are bright red or "mardi gras" (black with bright colored flecks). A supplier of sheet stock, L.E. Smith, Bryan, Ohio, donated the raw materials to Keystone.
While visiting the campsite for general design and color details, Deanna Hicks met Richard and Kyle Petty. Bill Hoy of Keystone made two trips to the camp to deliver and install the countertops.
NASCAR driver Kyle Petty, son of Richard, and his wife, Pattie, had started planning for a camp for seriously ill children when their son Adam, a fourth-generation NASCAR driver, was killed in May 2000 while practicing for a race. After a time of healing, the Pettys revived their dream. In Adam's honor, Richard and Lynda Petty donated the necessary acreage to start the camp in Randleman, N.C.
The idea for "gang camps" came when Paul Newman, Newman's Own, started pondering ways to help children with serious illnesses. When Paul Newman and his friend, author A.E. Hotchner, established Newman's Own Foods in 1982, the profits from the actor's personal salad dressing recipe were earmarked for charity. As the business branched into other foods, the profits reached millions, and scores of letters came from parents wanting help for their children with serious illnesses.
In 1986, Newman had the inspiration to build a place for kids who were too sick to go to ordinary camp. The first camp, The Hole In The Wall Gang Camp, was named for the bandits from his "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" movie.
In addition to the original camp in Ashford, Conn., and The Victory Junction Gang Camp, there are camps in Lake Luzerne, N.Y.; Eustis, Fla.; County Kildare, Ireland; Echouboulains, France; and Lower Galilee, Israel. Newman remains involved in the camps and serves on the boards of directors of most of the camps.
Victory Junction, founded by Newman and Kyle and Pattie Petty in 2002, has a racing theme and is decorated, inside and out, in bright NASCAR colors. It is an independent not-for-profit organization and is not part of Petty Enterprises. NASCAR has named the camp a "Proud NASCAR" and has pledged its support through a media campaign. In addition, many of the teams, owners and track owners support the camp with individual contributions. The camp will open in June.
Keystone Designs has three plants in the Warsaw area and has donated countertops locally. For more information on The Victory Junction Gang Camp, visit www.victoryjunction.org
