Camp Sunshine in Maine is a national retreat for children with life-threatening illnesses, and their families. It runs year-round and provides recreation and group support and focuses on alleviating the strain a critical illness takes not only on the ill child, but on other members of the immediate family. There are no fees to attend the camp, but the families must provide their own transportation. Because the camp’s family focus is so rare, families have traveled from 44 states and 22 countries since the program was founded in 1984. Providing access to families is critical to making sure they can benefit from this opportunity. We have made grants of more than $40,000 to make sure that as many families as possible have an opportunity to attend the sessions. As more families learn of Camp Sunshine and as the economy worsens, the demand for travel support increases.
“Being from Minnesota, we especially feel fortunate to attend Camp Sunshine. The financial toll that dealing with cancer, medical bills, and time off from work to care for a sick child takes prevents us from ever being able to provide such a trip for our family. The gift of travel is an amazing gift.” –A family of five sponsored by Hands On Tzedakah at Camp Sunshine’s July 2011 Brain Tumor Program.
This quote from a family says it all. We would like to significantly increase the amount we pay for transportation costs for needy families like them so they can get the benefits of a week at Camp Sunshine, and hope our donors will designate $30,000 in multiples (typical round trip for a family of four) of $1,500.
I can’t end this vignette here. We received a Thank You Letter from a young boy and a separate one from his mother. This young child knew he was dying. He had a sibling who was jealous of all the attention his mother was giving him. His brother met the brother of another child who had lost a sibling to the same debilitating disease. After learning how guilty the other boy felt when his brother died, the brother of the boy writing the letter “understood.” At Camp Sunshine, the sick meet with the only people in the world who can truly understand what they are going through. Parents meet parents. Siblings of the sick meet siblings of the sick. We are only asked to provide transportation for the families that without our help.
The help we give Camp Sunshine is why HOT exists. Look at the child in the picture. He is smiling. He is a happy child. He doesn’t know. Think of what his parents are gong through. I don’t want to ever say no to a request to any family needing the respite of camp, needing to hold onto other parents whose hearts are as broken as theirs. Praying that maybe at camp they will hear of a promising new drug that helped another family’s child. Hope!!