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Snowy liberation
Kids whose burns have limited their lives and scarred their self-images find comfort and inspiration on a Colorado mountain.
By LENNIE BENNETT
© St. Petersburg Times, published March 25, 2001
ST. PETERSBURG -- Pain is etched on their faces. Now, joy is, too. Eleven kids, ages 12 to 16, who have suffered severe burns, attended the second annual Roger Pepper Snow Camp in Crested Butte, Colo., in January. It was founded by St. Petersburg artist Allison Massari, who was severely burned in a car accident in 1998. She named the camp to honor the man who pulled her from her burning car. The camp's purpose, she says, "is to test your boundaries, to be around people who can look past the scars. You feel you are assigned a certain life when you are burned. It's hard to imagine you can do anything like before. Here, they can move beyond imposed limitations. It's liberating." She raised the $30,000 cost through donations and sales of her art work. Volunteer chaperones paid their own way.
Photographer Beth Reynolds accompanied the group and recorded their five days challenging a mountain and themselves. Her photographs are on display through April 8 at BayWalk, 153 Second Ave. N, in a vacant space adjacent to the Muvico box office.
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