Camp Hope Camper Experience
We want to provide children with cancer a chance to participate in the summer camp experience. Camp Hope prides itself on providing the best of traditional summer camp activities, along with arts and crafts activities. Listed below are links to pages showcasing the Camp Hope experience.
Though Camp Hope is free of charge, spacing is limited to ensure the safety of our campers. Open slots are available on a first-come, first-serve basis. Please follow the instructions in this registration packet to register your child for Camp Hope.
For more information on Camp Hope, please contact Stephanie Weiter at 1-800-359-1025 or click here to email her.
Activities
Camp Hope provides children with cancer a chance to savor the summer camp experience. Unique in its ability to assist campers' needs through a fully functional medical team, Camp Hope campers are able to enjoy regular camp activities. Some of these activities include swimming, softball, golf, fishing, hiking, arts and crafts, and campfire singing.
Camp Hope's Activities Schedule will be posted here as soon as it is available. Please bookmark this page and return in the near future.
Medical Care
We believe every child should be able to have a summer camp experience, regardless of their medical condition. While campers need not be in remission or be fully mobile to attend camp, they should be well enough to enjoy the experience.
At Camp Hope, medical personnel are available around the clock to administer routine chemotherapy, transfusions, arrange for blood counts, handle any medical emergencies, and adjust any programs to meet the campers needs.
Driving Directions
Camp Hope is held in June at Camp Aldrich, which is located 2 miles north of Highway 156 between Claflin, Kansas and the Cheyenne Bottoms Wildlife Area. For help with directions, please click here to visit Google Maps.
Camper & Parent Testimonials:
"What I like best about Camp Hope is the lifelong friends I have made there. I always feel like I belong like there is nothing different about me. Everyone at camp can relate to you because they have been through the same things. Sometimes I feel like I have to hide who I am in the real world I don't want people to see my insecurities and shortcomings. But at camp, I feel that I can just be myself and still be accepted. This year at camp, we referred to it as our own little world, and that is exactly what it is."
Hailey Rago, camper
"What makes Camp Hope special is that everyone understands each other. Everyone knows what you've been through, knows that you are different from other kids, and knows you want to do some normal things instead of going to the doctor and being glum the whole summer. Camp Hope is a week for cancer kids to have fun and be normal, or as normal as being a cancer survivor can get."
Barbara Griffith, camper
"One thing I love about Camp Hope is, when you see the healthy kids at camp, it gives inspiration to the campers who are sick, and it helps them to realize that they can make it, too."
Joel Higgins, camper
"I go back to Camp Hope every year because I get to see everybody that I have become friends with over the years. Camp Hope is like my second home and the people at Camp Hope are my second (huge) family."
Reanna Zogelmann, camper
"When Brett talks about Camp Hope and plans for the trip, his eyes light up, his responsibility to pack and plan increase, and he makes sure to ask his boss for the time off work well in advance. We just wish we could expect such responsible behavior on a regular, day-to-day basis! ;-)"
Mike and Karla Schubert, parents
"Camp Hope gives Brittany a place to share her experiences. She doesn't have to be strong for those around her when she is there. Everyone has had the same experience with cancer with loving friends, with losing friends. I always wait for the phone call after the memorial service. It's the hardest time of the week, but the most important. Camp Hope give her a safe place to just be a kid. She doesn't have to explain herself to anyone they know. The first few years she went to Camp Hope, when she was still on treatment, it was the only place she could go that I knew she would be safe and well cared for away from family."
Kriss Ayala, parent
"I can still remember the very first time we left Curtis at the camp 11 years ago. We'd become pretty overprotective of him...and I thought I was the only one who could watch over and protect him. As the years grew, so did our trust and understanding of the Camp Hope experiences. He would come back exhausted, and excited! The commonality of cancer was the least of this yearly get-together it was just plain, good 'ole fun! He's developed lifelong friendships of both peers and counselors. These experiences will stay with him a lifetime. Thank you for allowing Curtis this wonderful opportunity and experience!"
Pam Stephenson, parent
"Camp Hope is the absolute highlight of my daughter's year. After she goes, she talks about it for months, and the remainder of the year she talks about her plans to go next year. The staff / volunteers make it so much fun and care so much for the campers, and the caring doesn't stop when parents pick up their children. Camp Hope is the greatest!"
Ardath Bell, parent
"My son has attended Camp Hope since he was four years old...he is now 11 and he can't wait each summer to return! It is a place he is understood by others that have gone through, or are going through, what he has experienced. The staff is wonderful and very caring! Blake will continue to go as long as he can and he may someday be a volunteer!"
Kaylynn Miller, parent
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