It’s that time of year again! At every age and stage, summer means something different. You might be buying swim gear for your kids, heading off to camp yourself, kicking up your heels in the cool living room, or traveling to work daily in the heat.
For hundreds of children with seriously ill parents, summer means a therapeutic journey with their friends from Chai4ever. Last year, Chai4ever launched Camp4ever! Boys’ Division, a unique traveling camp designed to promote hope and healing for boys who have a sick parent or who lost a parent to illness. This year, due to the overwhelming success of last year’s pilot program, we’ve take the huge step of launching both Camp4ever! Boys’ Division and Girls’ Division.
For me, summer meant watching my mother shed a tear as she put me on the bus to sleepaway camp and wondered where her “little girl” went. However, many of my Camp4ever! campers have no mother to put them on the bus. Within the past few months, 7 children who will be attending camp this summer were orphaned by cancer. The importance of camp to them hit home when I was asked by multiple children, the very day that the parent had passed, “Will I still be allowed to go to Camp4ever?”
At this point, we have filled two coach busses for each session with campers and staff, preparing for the summer of a lifetime. However, it saddens me to know that I have a waiting list of children for both boys’ and girls’ sessions, without enough funding to add additional vehicles to either session. As Director of Home and Hospital Services at Chai4ever, I feel personally responsible to give every child a chance to attend this vitally important program.
Thank you for visiting my page and helping me reach my goal of $7200 so that I may take several children off of the wait list. Wishing you a happy and healthy summer!
