For over 20 years, Judy Terle’s two daughters attended Baltimore-based inclusion summer camps, for both campers with disabilities and those without, before the pandemic brought them to an end.

Terle’s daughters — Hannah, 35, and Arielle, 32 — have autism. The camps they attended gave them a sense of community, and provided them with the consistent programming they thrive on.

With those camps unavailable because of COVID, Terle and her husband would plan hikes around a nearby lake and trips to the grocery store to maintain routines and community engagement in their daughters’ lives.

“There’s not a lot of summer programming,” Terle said, leaving a gap in the services they receive the rest of the year.

But in 2023 Terle and her family discovered the Spark Program, a Pikesville-based summer day camp bringing together adults with varied abilities around fun, Jewish-themed activities.

In July, adults with disabilities come to North Oaks Senior Living where they bake Torah-themed cookies, go on nature walks and have a foam party.

“It’s like a change of pace,” Terle said of Spark. “My daughters have never said I don’t want to go and always have a smile on their face when I tell them they’re going.”

Program participants and support staff say Spark’s program for adults with disabilities is unlike any other they’ve experienced for people with disabilities.

Why? The program allows participants to build relationships in an environment they say is inclusive to all kinds of ability.

When the COVID pandemic hit, the Jewish Community Center of Greater Baltimore’s therapeutic and inclusion summer programming for adults ceased, and a group of parents of adult children with disabilities met to discuss other options.

The Spark Program helped fill that need beginning four years ago.

“Once you turn 18, you are staring at the abyss as far as Jewish programming is concerned,” said Rabbi Eli Solomon, co-founder of the Spark Program.

The name of the program comes from a Jewish notion of the soul — neshamah — Solomon described, wherein each person has an internal fire that needs to be ignited.

“We want to light that spark and make sure that no one is left behind,” he said. “Everyone has a unique place in the world, and we want to accentuate that and provide the space that will light them up.”

Solomon and his wife, Chana, moved to Baltimore years ago from New York to direct the local chapter of Friendship Circle, a Chabad program that organizes inclusive programming and facilitates friendships in the Jewish community between people with disabilities and people without disabilities.

“We wanted to do something meaningful,” said Chana Solomon, who directs the Spark Program.

The Solomons attended the 2020 meeting of parents seeking a solution to the lack of inclusive programming and saw a need they could fill.

“Everyone deserves a fun summer experience, a different pace to the daily hustle and bustle of the rest of the year,” Chana Solomon said.

This year the program is housed at the North Oaks Senior Living Center.

Most of the program’s participants are in their 20s and 30s, and they grew up in the special needs Jewish community around Baltimore. They’ve been enrolled in day programming together for years.

“They get to see the people they’ve known for their whole lives,” Terle said. “The biggest thing is how welcoming it all is. You never feel uncomfortable. Everyone is so involved.”

The program aims to create an environment in which, no matter the challenges facing a person, they don’t have to feel as though they need to fit in.

“Everyone can be who they are, and feel included, even those without disabilities,” Chana Solomon said.

“Some families, because of particular challenges, don’t have access to the Jewish community and don’t feel a part of it.”

Every morning at Spark begins with music, singing and Jewish prayers. Every participant is asked how they’re feeling.

Ari, a camper, enthusiastically shared that he fixed the tire on his mother’s car earlier in the week.

“I’m becoming more independent,” he declared.

Heather, another camper, poured cups of flour into a bowl and mixed it to make cookie dough.

“I did it!” she said.

This is Tali Gheiler’s first year working with Spark.

Gheiler often holds the hand of Heather, who experiences challenges speaking her mind. Gheiler believes that, in holding Heather’s hand, she is letting Heather know she is listening, even if it can be hard to understand what Heather is saying.

At a foam party, participants ages 10 to 50 played in the bubbles, while residents of the senior living facility gleefully watched as the wind lifted chunks of foam and carried them toward the clouds.

Later in the week, the group will play balloon volleyball and big bag toss before having a glow dance party.

Terle said her daughters’ grandfather, who lives at North Oaks, can at times join in the baking, singing and art making.

The structure and consistency of the program’s activities meet the needs of her daughters.

“They know that they will see their friends and be greeted with open arms every day,” Terle said.