For the past 25 years, the families of children with life-threatening illnesses have made the journey to a peaceful retreat on the shores of Sebago Lake in Casco, Maine—Camp Sunshine. It is a place where they go to seek both emotional healing and a sense of normalcy.
The camp is staffed mostly by volunteers, many of whom return summer after summer. This summer there are two groups of volunteers from Harvard. One group spent a week in June, the other will be at the camp from July 18 to July 23. Volunteers stay onsite with the families and serve in whatever capacity is needed. According to the camp’s website (www.campsunshine.org) every six-day session at Camp Sunshine requires about 75 volunteers. The camp’s goal is to provide a ratio of one volunteer for every two campers.
The Harvard volunteers are organized by Old Littleton Road resident Anne Marie Rowse, through Holy Trinity Parish. Rowse says she was drawn to Camp Sunshine after listening to her brother describe his experience there as a volunteer. The two had lost their mother to leukemia when they were teenagers and had always wanted to help others through the grieving process. Camp Sunshine was the perfect opportunity for them to give back, Rowse says. “I was so moved by what I saw there that I felt I had to reach out to others in my community and recruit them. Because of my experience there my daughter Hillary and a group of her friends decided to become volunteers, and now I coordinate volunteer efforts in this area.”
Volunteers provide help with arts and crafts, food service, housekeeping, grounds maintenance, and duties at the marina, beach, and pool. They provide companionship and assistance for various age groups of children and teens, as well as adults. The main goal for volunteers, according to the website, is “to help kids be kids and families be families.” Each camper group has a mix of healthy siblings and children living with a chronic or critical illness, such as cancer, kidney disease, or lupus.
Rowse says that seeing what the children and their families endure has made such an impression on some of the volunteers that they’ve changed their college majors to areas that help the medically fragile, such as physical therapy, special education, and science.
Bromfield junior volunteer Erin Molinaro says, “My older brother was a volunteer there one year and talked about what an amazing time he had. He said it didn’t feel like work at all. I just had to go and find out what he meant. I just returned from a week there and I can’t wait to bring back some of my friends next year. It is amazing to see how quickly all the families bond. It is like they have known each other forever. The kids are so brave in spite of their illnesses. They don’t let anything stop them from achieving what they want.”
Since 1984, Camp Sunshine has provided 24-hour onsite medical, psycho-social support, bereavement counseling, and recreational activities to more than 30,000 people from diverse backgrounds. It is the only place in the United States that works with the complete family unit to address the impact these illnesses have on families. It also gives families the opportunity to meet others facing similar challenges. The programs are designed to “reunite” families and alleviate the day-to-day stress they have at home. Because each family is sponsored by a corporation, grant, foundation, or individual, all accommodations, meals, services, and medical facilities are provided free of charge for the one-week sessions.
For more information about Camp Sunshine, located at 35 Acadia Road in Casco, Maine, call 207-655-3800 or visit www.campsunshine.org. For local information contact Anne Marie Rowse at 978-456-3756.