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Camp on the Move 2013
Camp on the Move, a program in partnership with SeriousFun Children’s Network, recently completed its sixth season of operation. In 2013, 50 children diagnosed with heart disease, cancer, hemophilia or sickle cell disease enjoyed a week at camp making new friends, gaining new experiences and most importantly, remembering what it’s like to just be a kid again. Children attended sessions at Double H Ranch in New York, The Hole in the Wall Gang Camp in Connecticut and Victory Junction in North Carolina. Since its inception in 2008, over 125 children have benefited from Camp on the Move through North Star Reach.
Before the campers departed for their session, North Star Reach hosted a family picnic to come together and learn more about camp and prepare for the week-long session. The picnics provided great fun and the families enjoyed experiencing a brief peek into the excitement of camp. To view pictures from the family picnics please visit our gallery.
The 2013 Camp on the Move’s success is greatly attributed to an amazing group of Star Supporters:
• Mott Golf Classic whose $25,000 in support helped us to send 50 kids to camp this year – double the number sent in 2012.
• Beaumont Children’s Hospital, C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital, Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital, Children’s Hospital of Michigan whose committed health care staff volunteered at camp and helped recruit and fill out the necessary paperwork so our campers could be a part of this program.
• The Westin Detroit Metropolitan Airport and SpringHill Suites Detroit Metro Airport Romulus – who provided donated and discounted accommodations for our families and volunteers the night before departing for camp.
• Stolz Mead Global who discounted our Duck, Duck, Moose t-shirts
• Warren Tower High School’s National Honor Society who provided travel snacks and activities for the campers.
• Dave & Diane Lusk who generously provided amazing picnic fare for each of our four family gatherings.
• 12 week-long volunteer camp counselors who traveled to the camps to be with our campers.
• 10 volunteer chaperons that traveled with our campers and ensured they arrived safely at camp.
• Countless friends of North Star Reach that volunteered at the family picnics.
• Eryn Smith, an amazing summer volunteer who helped coordinate nearly 150 airline flights.
• The staff and volunteers at SeriousFun Children’s Network, Double H Ranch, The Hole in the Wall Gang Camp and Victory Junction.
Meet Mac, a North Star Reach Camper
Meet MacKale or “Mac” as his camping buddies call him. Mac is 9 years old and will be attending the 4th grade this Fall in Cadillac, MI. Days after Mac was born, he was diagnosed with hemophilia and since then has required an intravenous medication referred to as “Factor” to help his blood clot correctly. This medication is infused at least three times a week – depending on his activity level. And Mac is one active little boy. Like many young boys, he plays tennis, baseball and soccer. Because of hemophilia, however, he cannot participate in contact sports such as hockey and football. And because of hemophilia, he cannot attend camp with his friends or his brothers because most day long or week long camps are not prepared to deal with his medical condition.
In June of this year, Mac traveled to Hole in the Wall Gang Camp in Ashford, Connecticut as part of North Star Reach’s “Camp on the Move,” an interim program created to take a limited number of children to other SeriousFun camps. This was his first time traveling without his parents and two younger brothers. Mac missed his family for “two seconds because there was so much to do!” He swam, fished, played miniature golf, went horseback riding, met new friends and performed a solo of “Stars in the Sky” during stage night – a Capella. Other than several scheduled trips to the medical center for Factor, nobody at camp would know Mac has a medical condition that impacts his life daily. And Mac didn’t know what medical conditions affected his new friends camping alongside of him. He was there simply to have fun just like the other kids. And that’s exactly what he did.
MacKale can’t wait to return to camp and with North Star Reach here in Michigan, his dream of returning year after year will be a reality, along with his biggest wish – to experience the magic of family camp alongside his brothers.
You can help make Mac’s dream a reality, click here to donate to North Star Reach. Thank you!