A Diller Home Success Story: 'I Had the Opportunity to Just Be a Regular Kid,' says Dr. Wanda Koston
Camp Supervisor Emily Mulhern (left) with Dr. Wanda Coston, M.D., a former camper, outside the home on May 30, 2026.
By Dave Coskey
The annual spring open house at the Helen L. Diller Vacation Home for blind and visually impaired children is always a bit of a wild card. After all, it’s an open invitation extended to the community. No RSVP necessary. Everyone is invited to visit the home and learn more about this amazing resource that has called the Seven Mile Beach home for more than half a century. But since it’s an open invitation, you can never really be sure who might attend.
Organizers can always count on a few neighbors, who are mostly curious to learn more about the facility. And there are usually several donors, the people who have made it possible for more than 10,000 children to enjoy what, in many cases, was their first-ever beach vacation. All at no cost to them or their families. And then there are campers and their families. A chance for the whole family to get a closer look at the Diller Home.
After that, it’s difficult to predict who might walk up to the side yard. So, imagine the surprise when the staff welcomed a former camper, Wanda Coston, back to the Diller Home on May 30. It’s been more than a couple of years since Wanda was gleefully jumping waves at the 25th Street beach. Actually, it’s been almost 50 years. Her absence is understandable, though. She’s been a little busy since her last visit to Seven Mile Beach.
Let’s see, she obtained her undergraduate degree from Harvard University, then a medical degree from Duke University School of Medicine, and then a 20-plus-year career as an internist in Pennsylvania, who can blame her for missing an open house or two?
“I often think about the weeks that I spent at the Diller Home,” Dr. Coston tells the Seven Mile Times. “To be honest, I wasn’t sure that it even existed any longer.”
A reasonable thought, given the changes that have occurred on the Seven Mile Beach over the past half century. So, she did what any inquiring mind might do: “I Googled it!”
Only to learn that not only did the house still operate, but an open house was also scheduled for May 30. So, she made plans to travel down from her current home in Northeastern Pennsylvania back to the beach one more time.
“Naturally, it’s changed quite a bit,” she observes. “I almost didn’t recognize it.”
How could she? After all, Coston was a camper during some of the home’s earliest years in the early to mid-1970s.
The house opened in 1972 to 120 total campers in what was formerly the Sherwood Apartments on 26th Street. The home was virtually rebuilt in 1981. The dream of a local Avalon contractor, Harry Arader, it took a major fundraising effort spearheaded by the Stone Harbor Lions and many generous benefactors, like the legendary Diller family, to finally become a reality.
A board was established to maintain and operate the home and has continued the dream for 54 summers, but only because of generous contributions from visitors and homeowners of the Seven Mile Beach. Since the first campers were welcomed in June 1972, the local retail and dining community has been very supportive of the campers.
For that first summer, campers were treated to a weekly dinner “with all the trimmings” at both Phillips’ Rock’n Chair Tavern and Ed Zaberer’s, along with a weekly lunch at the Burger Barn, a local Avalon favorite in the 1970s. According to media reports, one of the first physical contributions came from the Bell Telephone Pioneers. They contributed a softball that emitted electronic beeps when tossed (a technological marvel at the time). This gave campers the opportunity to catch and play softball games – a new experience for many.
Today, the house is active on all social media channels. And media outlets have documented the work the Diller Home has done for decades. So, we wondered: How did a child from Philadelphia learn about this first-of-its-kind facility located in what was then a sleepy little beach town in the early 1970s?
“My parents learned about the Diller Home from Logan School, where I attended the visually impaired section,” Coston says. “The school distributed brochures from the Diller Home.”
Thankfully, Coston’s parents were progressive enough to recognize the opportunity the camp might offer.
“I attended a special school,” Coston explains. “Part of the school was for visually impaired children. The other portion of the school was for regular kids, that’s what they called them. We had no idea that we were starting a new trend by having this opportunity. I was only 8 or 9 at the time. So, looking through the eyes of a child, it was an opportunity to have fun.”
As you might expect, children can often be mean-spirited.
“We were sometimes bullied and made fun of,” Coston remembers. “But at Diller, I had the opportunity to just be a regular kid – with friends that I made while there. The experience had an amazing impact on me and my life.”
She still remembers jumping waves at the beach, trips to the Brigantine Castle amusement activity and the Wildwood Boardwalk, “… and collecting seashells as gifts for my parents and brothers. I believe that we may even have some of them still around.”
Even after all these years.
Coston’s parents were, as she describes them, “open-minded and supportive.” So she grew up knowing that she could pursue her dreams regardless of the fact that she had a visual impairment. “That never stood in the way and my parents never limited me in trying new things,” she says.
“The camp really made a difference in my life,” Coston adds. “As a child, it allowed me to have fun and enjoy being a kid. I did not dwell on any visual limitation. I only saw all the possibilities, and that attitude has stayed with me throughout my life.”
The Diller Home has strived to foster that kind of attitude with thousands of children for 54 summers.
It shouldn’t be necessary, but occasionally we all need to be reminded of the many amazing blessings that we have here on Seven Mile Beach. And none has provided more smiles and special memories than the Helen L. Diller Home for Blind and Visually Impaired Children.
“It’s a very special place,” Coston concludes.
Even after half a century, it’s still just what the doctor ordered.