It’s the first day of camp. Kids are hugging old friends and excitedly running from counselor to counselor, curious to know the camp schedule. Any onlooker can see that Camp Kesem is a joyful place — a magical land protected by smiling counselors with funny names like “Pebbles” and “Phineas" and a place where kids are free to be kids.
Unless you met their parents, you would never know that these children are connected by a unique and challenging bond, and that this week will be one of the most important weeks of their lives.
That’s because the 75 kids who attended Camp Kesem last summer have a parent who has cancer, is in remission from cancer or has passed away from cancer.
Arizona State University’s Camp Kesem is a one week overnight camp that, with the help of donors and dedicated college students, is entirely free for youth ages six to 16 from families coping with cancer. Camp Kesem empowers children through fun summer-camp activities like swimming, canoeing, arts and crafts and sports. Kids leave Camp Kesem with a support network of friends facing similar challenges and an understanding that they are not alone.
Heather Koch, a psychology senior, has been involved with Camp Kesem for three years and currently serves as co-chairman of the ASU branch of volunteers.
The organization’s founders at Stanford University chose the name Kesem, which is Hebrew for “magic,” when they started the camp in 2001. ASU alum Nick Pokrajac, whose father passed away from cancer when he was young, started Camp Kesem at ASU in 2006 with a small group of friends. Pokrajac heard about the program from a friend at Northwestern University, and after founding a Camp Kesem at ASU he was able to raise $17,000 and bring 19 children to camp, Koch says.
Since then, the organization has practically doubled each year with the number of students involved and amount of money raised. ASU’s Camp Kesem has grown to be one of the largest camps of the 23 nationwide and about 50 percent of their campers are returning campers.
Koch heard about camp when a Camp Kesem representative came to an Alpha Epsilon Delta (the Pre-Health Honors Society) meeting. She started attending meetings and was immediately hooked.
“It was the perfect balance between community service, leadership, responsibility and fun,” Koch says. “It was just what I needed to splice up my hectic pre-med schedule.”
Koch says students are drawn to Camp Kesem because they get to see how the kids are growing and helping each other through this difficult time.
“It’s a unique organization at ASU in the sense that you are able to see the results,” she says.
Most of the behind-the-scenes work that goes into Camp Kesem is very driven, structured and focused.
“There are some days when we’re just planning and planning and fundraising, and sometimes it’s easy to get lost,” Koch says. “At the end of the day you’re spending a week at camp. It’s so rewarding to know that the kids are touched by this camp.”
Though Koch went to a sleep-away camp when she was younger, it wasn’t the camp experience that drew her to the organization. She says children in families coping with cancer are in a very rare situation and are sometimes overlooked by traditional summer camps. Koch says one of the biggest roles of Camp Kesem counselors is making sure that the parents are aware of how their kids are feeling. Because parents or couples dealing with cancer often have a million things on their plate, from medical expenses to coping with losing the one that they love, sometimes the struggle of children is overlooked.
Shayna Choulet, a meteorology junior, is Camp Kesem’s newest administrative coordinator. Last summer Choulet worked as a counselor for the youngest campers, six- to nine-year-old girls.
“The amount of strength that the kids have is overwhelming,” she says. “If my mom or dad was going through chemotherapy I don’t know what I would do. [The kids] had to grow up really fast to deal with something like that.”
A few of the hardships children of cancer patients deal with are guilt and feelings of injustice. Younger kids sometimes feel like their parents suffer because they did something wrong, or they feel guilty because they are having fun at camp while their parent is going through chemotherapy.
Choulet says dealing with grief was something she was worried about addressing with campers, especially because some of the children had recently lost a parent. Camp Kesem counselors provide a comfortable environment rather than therapy for kids — there aren’t activities planned around sharing cancer stories, but children can choose to share as they wish.
As a counselor for the teens, Koch worked with 14- to 16-year old girls. The Camp Kesem experience is very different for older youth in that it’s more of a leadership development program.
“I’m not working as an entertainer, I’m working as a role model,” Koch says.
Teens participate in an actual campout in the forest, complete a service project and lead events for younger kids.
In addition to traditional camp activities, all of the campers and staff participate in a unity project. This project focuses on strength and touches a bit on cancer in more of an empowering way than in a sad way, Koch says.
Last summer, the kids decorated flip flops and arranged them in a big circle, and joining hands they walked around observing each others’ work, emphasizing a “step” toward unity. Koch says this activity really opened up the kids, which was especially noticeable during nightly cabin chats.
“We can’t fix what the kids are going through,” Koch says, adding that Camp Kesem counselors provide support through understanding and listening.
Camp Kesem’s goals for the future are both monetary and abstract. Because paying for the campsite alone costs upwards of $25,000, Koch says the organization is striving for bigger fundraising numbers so they can bring more kids to camp. Two fundraisers they are planning are their annual “Make the Magic” brunch and silent auction, and a new large-scale golf tournament in May 2011.
In terms of student involvement, Camp Kesem is always looking for new volunteers to play a role in fundraising and program development.
“There are so many more ways to get involved with camp than being a counselor,” Koch says.
Most of the camper recruitment happens through cancer support groups and word of mouth. ASU’s Camp Kesem is the only one in Arizona, so Koch says it is important for the organization to reach out to families in all corners of the state.
Even though she’s aware that it comes with challenges, Koch says working with Camp Kesem is “something that I’m so honored to be doing... It’s just such a genuine experience."
Camp Kesem can accept more kids each year thanks to growing involvement from ASU students.
“Once people hear about it, they want to be a part of it,” Choulet says.
And as for the funny nicknames?
Koch’s nickname, Cookie, comes from the pronunciation of her last name, and is also the nickname given to her by an aunt who passed away from cancer when she was in fifth grade. Camp Kesem counselors go by their nicknames both at camp and at year-round meetings — they never let the kids know their real names, which might just add to the magic.
Camp Kesem meetings are every other Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. The next meeting will take place on Sept. 29 in LSE 104.
Contact the reporter at: melody.parker@asu.edu.
