When Charlotte Tucker heard her brother Brett’s vision for a community that would embrace families with children who have special needs, her first thought was “Wow.” She knew right away that she wanted to be involved.

The only problem she could see was that she was 12 hours away. Distance didn’t stop her involvement, though. With a background in serving as a school nurse for special needs field trips and having a beloved 20-year-old nephew with autism, Charlotte already had a love for children with special needs. And as she began to form new friendships after relocating to New Jersey, Victory Lane Camp gave her something interesting to discuss. Many of her new friends shared her passion for the vision of VLC.

This summer, Charlotte was able to attend Pace Lap Camp with her daughter Rachael who is studying occupational therapy at Seton Hall. Rachael had the opportunity to job shadow with Dusti Dobbs, who has served as a VLC therapist for several years. Charlotte served as a family crew chief.

“I loved being the crew chief for Johnny’s family. I found myself asking questions to Cheri, Johnny’s mom, and she was very open with me. I really appreciated getting to know the Victory families and growing my understanding of what they experience,” Charlotte said. “I’m able to keep up with them on Facebook and when they put up prayer requests, I take those requests to my friends for prayer.”

In addition to sharing prayer requests, Charlotte also shared a video created from photos she took at camp. While presenting this video to a women’s group she’s involved with, one of the group members approached her afterwards and asked Charlotte to come and talk to a Columbiettes group. After sharing with the Columbiettes, that organization decided to dedicate the funds from their December “Souper Bowl” event to Victory Lane Camp. The funds from the event, in addition to generous gifts that followed, totaled a $1,000 donation to VLC.

Charlotte is already talking about coming to one of the camps that VLC is offering this year at Bradford Woods in Martinsville. She hopes that as VLC grows, she can help with a one-day camp for her area.

“Mother Theresa once said, ‘Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love,’” Charlotte shared. “That’s what I want. To do as many small things as I can with great love.”