Camp Friendship

Posted by TeamCharlie on July 14, 2008 under Kids are Heroes | Be the First to Comment

If you have been following in my daughter MaryMargaret’s footsteps lately, you’ll know that she and her two friends Rianna and Taylor recently held a lemonade stand in front of Flights of Fancy, which is a toy store in downtown Frederick.  The idea, triggered in part by her website, was to sell enough lemonade to buy Webkinz for the kids at Camp Friendship, which is sponspored by the Carol Jean Cancer Foundation.   Camp Friendship is a camp in Laytonsville, MD where children aged 7-17 that have been recently diagnosed/treated for cancer can come for a week of camp in a somewhat “normal” environment.  At each camp their maximun enrollment is 80 children.  On Saturday, June 14th, MaryMargaret, Rianna and Taylor worked in sweltering heat for six hours, sometimes yelling across the street, but always beckoning people to come over to their lemonade stand and buy a cup or two for $1.00 each.  Their aggressiveness netted them $300.00 in just six hours, which was more than a shock to us since we said we would match whatever they made.  The owner of Flights of Fancy was generous enough to sell the Webkinz to us at a discount, and due to all these stars lining up we were able to buy 80 Webkinz which would ensure each camper would get one.

Well today was the delivery date for the stuffed toys.  We were so sorry that Taylor wasn’t able to come with us due to her sudden high fever.  She worked so hard in getting people to buy the lemonade, ignoring the blisters on her feet.  When the children at the camp were told that they were getting Webkinz, all their faces lit up and they were so incredibly excited.  They all got to pick one out of the bags – they were so gracious and thankful.  It was really a sight to see.  They took pictures of all the kids with their Webkinz which I hope to share later on.

Somehow when we planned this it never occurred to me that there would be teenagers there.  We always hear about little children with cancer, but rarely when it is a teenager.  I felt a little silly handing out Webkinz to them, but some of them liked them anyway and others left theirs to be donated to children in hospitals.  Yesterday we saw a girl who was an amputee.  She was getting around quite well on her prosthetic leg and was just acting like a normal kid with no complaints at all.  I mention this because outwardly to her it seemed normal, but if I transfer that prosthetic leg onto my daughter in my mind, it becomes so devastating.

The director of the camp is Beverly Gough – she told us this is her eighteenth year putting on these camps (which are multiple in the summer time).   The Carol Jean Cancer Foundation is named after Beverly’s sister Carol Jean, who was taken prematurely by this ruthless disease.   What a humbling experience it is to meet a person like Beverly and her son Tommy who is also heavily involved.  The effort and skill it takes to put these camps on year after year is quite daunting.  I know the kids and parents alike really appreciate it, as they are both getting a much needed break.  One can only imagine what the parents of these children are going through.  Our thoughts are definitely with them.