camp hope 2008

Children's Diagnostic & Treatment Center attends Camp Hope 2008!

Getting to Texas . . .

This year, 44 children from the CFAP program traveled with 5 counselors and our favorite photographer, Karin on Southwest Airlines to Houston.  A bus was there waiting to bring everyone to Burton, Texas where Camp Hope is held each summer.  There was buzzing excitement, a few tears and a few first time flyers all filled with a little nervous enthusiasm anticipating their arrival at camp.

 

 

 

 

 

Pool Time!

One of the kids' favorite activities at Camp. And getting Dr. Puga wet is almost as much fun as the pool, the kids run up to her and offer her hugs just to get her wet!

 

 

Remember to keep checking the Camp blog (hit the F5 key to refresh for new pictures) as we will post more pictures of the kids having fun each day. Thanks for supporting our camp programs! Please remember to respect the children's privacy, if you share with others please remind them that this is for you to see what your donations make possible for these medically complex children. For more information on Children's Diagnostic & Treatment Center, the camp program or other CDTC programs and to make a contribution, please contact Stephanie Claville at 954-728-1040.

Thanks for all your support! We could not do this without help from people like you!

Camp Life . . .

 

This part of camp is not so glamourous but it makes all the difference in the world for these children. Thanks to the medications, we are seeing the children grow out of camp and as we contemplate what special programming can be created for all the youth who have aged out of Camp Hope.

  

Each day the medical team at Camp give 1043 doses of medicines to the 141 campers here this year. By the end of the week, we will have dosed over 6200 doses to keep these children alive and well!

 

 

Glamour Shots!!!

Every year on the first day of camp all the campers get to dress up and take great glamour pictures that they can bring home to share with their families and friends!  Here are a few for you to view, enjoy!

 

 

 

 

even the doctors get in on the fun!

 

S'mores . . . and more!

The campfire was full of fun songs and yummy s'mores!

 

 

 

and more . . .

As the night goes on, many tired though smiling faces head back to their cabins for a good night's rest. Check later on for more about the cabins and life at Camp Hope! 

   

the camp scene . . .

Camp Hope takes place in Washington County, Texas at the Camp For All grounds, a fully equipped and handicap accessible campground. Here are some pictures of the campgrounds and the cabins where the campers stay. This year the theme is Camp Hope Olympics. Each cabin selected a country they would represent- so we have Team USA, Team Brazil, Team South Africa, Team India, Team China, Team Germany, Team Russia, Team Mexico, Team France, Team Italy, Team Jamaica, Team Australia, Team Netherlands,  and Team Japan!

 

 

The Medical Team is Switzerland and we travel to medical emergencies in the medical golf mobile. The psychosocial team is Greece and they travel around in the PsychoWagon for behavioral emergencies.

Carnival !!

 One Tuesday night it's Carnival in Texas! The younger children have lots of fun playing and earning tickets to get prizes while the older ones play kickball.

Wow, look at all these tickets, I won!

High ropes . . . and a *visitor*

The Ropes Course brings out the COURAGE in all the children. It is truly amazing to witness the strength and courage all the children have even the ones in wheelchairs head on up the rock wall for a swing down the ZIP line. This year the older ones did it at night!

Here's a brave Florida counselor, too!

look who stopped by to see what we were up to !

Busy, busy morning. . . bikes, basketball, and barnyard !

 

Meds, meds, and more meds . . .

All these meds are just one of the doses in a day for a single child. He is a great medicine taker!

 

Camp Hope Olympics . . .

Our Camp Hope Torch Bearer is Camp Director and great friend, Marc Cohen who graciously accepted the Florida campers to Camp Hope 11 years ago.  He is awesome with all the campers and truly goes out of his way to make sure everyone is having the best time of their lives! Thanks, AFH for letting Ft. Lauderdale's Children's Diagnostic & Treatment Center's children participate in Camp Hope!

 

Friends . . .

My favorite thing at camp is the bonds created among the children as they see that they are not the only ones fighting this disease, having to take medicines, and sometimes feeling sick. They make friendships that grow over the camp years and extend beyond camp. This year we lost a child right before camp and the campers called, supported each other and attended the wake and funeral- this kind of support happened because of the donations of many friends and sponsors in making the dream of camp a reality for the CDTC kids! Last night, we had a child faint and her entire cabin came around to support her as she recovered. When she finally was feeling better, she said, "it was so cool to have friends care about me" and smiled as a tear ran down her face.  

 

The tooth fairy came to visit this child at camp:

This blog and so much more is all possible because of a great friend, Karin of Karin Martinez Photography! Thanks, Karin. Your pictures provide great keepsakes for long-lasting memories.

 

Talent Show . . .

Every year there is amazing talents among the counselors who put on a fabulous talent show for the Texas visitors who have donated to making Camp Hope possible. This year was especially wonderful  with a'Capella by two campers and some wonderful dance performances by various cabins!

 

The tooth fairy pays a visit . . .

Water Day !!

This refreshing day was well deserved since the past 4 days were HOT, HOT, HOT at 105+ degrees daily. The children went station to station and participated in various different water-related activities!  

 

MAC cosmetics visits Camp Hope . . .

On the last night, MAC cosmetics volunteers to make up the older girls so they can feel glamorous and beautiful for the dance party! The transformations are amazing and the girls look beautiful all dressed and made up.

 

Dance Party !!

Goodbyes . . .

The last morning at camp is always bittersweet. The memory books are distributed and then there is a frenzy of children running around to get all their friends to sign before it is time to go. Once the buses arrive, the laughter and cheer quickly turns to hug and tears, as the children each head back home for another challenging year before they can see their camp friends again.  

Heading home . . .

The bus ride to the airport is full of emotion, tears, hugs, laughter and more tears. It is a long and tearful ride to the airport year after year. This year was tougher than most with 3 very ill campers on the bus along with all the teary-eyed ones.

 

Welcome Back . . .

We made it!! Thank You!!

This awesome group of volunteer Florida counselors make the trip to and from camp as well as the week at camp, safe, fun and a wonderful experience for each and every camper.

And to all of you-Thank YOU for all your support in making camp a reality for children who otherwise would not be able to have an experience like Camp Hope- a life-altering, and life-enhancing week of "too much fun" for children who often feel sick, tired, isolated and can't be fully open with friends about their illness- everything changes this week and they learn that they are not alone, that taking medicine is "cool," as one little girl shows another how she gets them through a stomach tube because she couldn't swallow them, and most of all that they have people who care about them and just want them to be kids having fun every second of each day at Camp!