The Shrine Circus gives the kids at Camp Gruber a special gift

Some Muskogee Shriners are helping children displaced by Hurricane Katrina; feel a little more at home in Green Country. <br/><br/>They invited the kids from Camp Gruber to the Shrine Circus in Muskogee

Sunday, September 18th 2005, 6:44 pm

By: News On 6

Some Muskogee Shriners are helping children displaced by Hurricane Katrina; feel a little more at home in Green Country.

They invited the kids from Camp Gruber to the Shrine Circus in Muskogee Sunday afternoon. News on 6 reporter Ashli Sims says it is kind of rough being a kid at Camp Gruber. They're far from everything familiar. Their homes, their schools, and their friends are all hundreds of miles away. But Sunday many are wearing big smiles thanks to the Shriners.

Almost 2 bus-loads of kids and their parents arrived at the Muskogee Civic Center to quite a fanfare. The Shriners, some very friendly clowns and a few favorite cartoon characters were out to welcome them. Each kid got some Mardi Gras beads, a toy, and some cotton candy all courtesy of the Shriners. And of course a ticket to the show, which was enough to wow the little kids and the kids at heart.

11 year old Naomi Ray: "itâ€™s funnier than the one in New Orleans cause it didn't have no lions or fire or nothing like that."

Edgar Joseph: "I think itâ€™s beautiful for the kids, itâ€™s wonderful."

The kids seemed to be having a really fun time Sunday. One father told the News on 6, this is just another example of how nice the folks in Oklahoma have been to him.