The History of Camp Challenge

THE HISTORY OF CAMP CHALLENGE

ACCORDING TO DADDY LONG LEGS*

IN THE BEGINNING

Once upon a time in a land not too far away, there was a terrible curse that was visited upon the little children that made some of them very, very sick. Noble doctors and beautiful nurses did the very best they could to make the children better. Devoted and loving parents soothed the children and made sure they took their meds. But alas, the children were still very, very sad. Then one day a very wise and overworked nurse had a wonderful inspiration! She talked to the noble doctors and they concurred! She discussed it with the parents and they loved the possibilities! She visited the wizard of CAGNO and worked out the funding. And, the rest is history!!

If this sounds a little like a fairy tale beginning – well it is!

The idea for a camp for children with cancer probably goes way back. However the actions that led to our camp originated in late 1987. An ill-assorted group of devoted nurses and doctors, confused and angry parents, and generous persons from the community pulled together to make it happen. One central figure at the very beginning was a nurse by the name of Katy McHugh. Katy was active in organizing the medical staff. She hooked up with Phyllis Embrey, the director of the Cancer Association of Greater New Orleans (CAGNO), and Phyllis agreed to help raise the money. In fact, Phyllis told Katy to just focus on organizing and one way or another she and CAGNO would find a way to fund the camp.

It was also at about that time that the parents support group, Childhood Cancer Families Network (CCFN), was organized under the encouragement of the social workers at Children’s Hospital. Wes Shinn, one of the parents who is an attorney, wrote up the Bylaws and the Articles of Incorporation and registered CCFN as a not for profit charitable organization in the State of Louisiana. Well, Katy didn’t have any trouble getting the parents excited about her idea (not to mention the prospect of a whole week of relief from the fulltime duties of caring for their sick kids). So, Wes went to work on Bylaws and Articles for the camp. Now all we needed was a name.

Katy and her cohorts – mostly nurses, I believe, and Phyllis – found a camp that would host our kids. The camp was located just across the lake in the Mandeville and Covington area. In order to protect the guilty, I’ll just call it Camp Watchamacallit. This camp agreed to provide the facility, the counselors, the lifeguards, the cooks, and the supervision; everything in fact we would need - except the doctors and nurses and medical supplies – for our first year of camp (1988). That camp had a “ropes course”, a sort of high wire obstacle course that we had absolutely no use for. Except one. The ropes course was called the “Challenge”. The name was a reminder of the challenge that our kids were facing in their struggle with cancer. It was also very appropriate – especially in that first year – for the challenge we faced in pulling this camp thing off! So we became CAMP CHALLENGE.

The first camp was a tremendous success – if for no other reason than it actually happened. Children’s Hospital sent the nurses (and doctors) to camp on paid leave. This is a tradition that Children’s has continued, and it has always been a dual blessing. Our campers have been assured of the very best medical care, and continuity of care, because the same nurses that treat them in clinic are taking care of them at camp. But also, the nurses and the doctors have always been our best recruiters! What better recommendation could parents have?

The First Ever Camp Challenge

We owe a lot to the nurses and doctors from Children’s Hospital (and the other area hospitals who in later years also sent medical staff on paid leave). Ironically, the hospital administration also gave us a big push. They pushed us out! In a pivotal meeting in 1989 or 1990, the hospital administrators informed us that Children’s Hospital would no longer be involved in helping to organize camp. Furthermore, we were to discontinue any mention of Children’s Hospital in affiliation with Camp Challenge. We were given a quick introductory lesson in the politics and competition between rival charity organizations. We were pushed from the nest like a baby bird. It was fly or crash to the ground! And, Boy, did we fly!!

But first we fluttered a little. The second camp (1989) was also held at Camp Watchamacallit. It was our only camp session that was not a complete success. Oh, the kids came; we had about 35 or 40 campers. And the doctors and nurses were organized and effective, as always. However, the camp staff was a bust! The director of the camp, after successfully negotiating the lease agreement and taking our money, promptly left on vacation. The camp was left understaffed and without good leadership. Still, the nurses and doctors held it together and the kids had a good time. That is, until the fifth day. On Thursday the camp “cooks” served chicken salad for lunch. They also served chicken salad for dinner. It was the same chicken salad, and it never saw the dim light of the refrigerator’s bulb between lunch and dinner. By Thursday night about half of the campers and a few of the besieged medical staff were sick with what appeared to be a very mild food poisoning. (Although, to my knowledge and probably to our benefit, it was never officially diagnosed as such.) Anyway, needless to say, the doctors and nurses had a very rough night that night and by Friday morning camp was adjourned. We called the parents and sent all the children back on the bus. That was our last year at Camp Watchamacallit, and after that year we always provided the camp staff, the cooks and the food.

THE GIRL SCOUT INFLUENCE

After that experience with our first facility, we were looking for a quality campground. It was through the efforts of some of our parents that we teamed up with the Girl Scouts. The Girl Scouts have a wonderful, spacious, clean, well equipped campground near Independence, La. Camp Whispering Pines is about 40 miles north of New Orleans and just off interstate I-55. We were able to work out a fair lease agreement and provide all our own staff. But the real contribution from the Girl Scouts came from some of their individual leaders. Barb Marquer (Tree) was the first to introduce us to the tradition of camp nicknames. She volunteered to serve as the program director for our third year of camp in 1990. Tree also helped us to enlist the services of the Camp Director of the Girl Scout summer program at Camp Whispering Pines, Ann Atkinson (Catnip). Catnip was our camp director for two or three years and was the trainer of our next Camp Director, Jody Mediamolle (Roadrunner), who also had previous experience within the Girl Scout program. And no tribute to the wonderful influence that the Girl Scouts have had on Camp Challenge would be complete without mentioning “Barefoot”, Ann Piedescalzi, who volunteered year after year to serve as Waterfront Director and Program Director. Probably the single greatest gift that Tree, Catnip, and Barefoot gave to our camp was the development of our Camp Standards and their experience and guidance in getting Camp Challenge accredited with the American Camping Association (ACA). We have been an ACA accredited camp continuously since our first year at Camp Whispering Pines in 1990.

CAMP RUTH LEE AND BEYOND

After three years at Camp Whispering Pines we got restless (and worn out!). We had talked about moving before and were generally looking for someplace a little smaller and more centralized. In early 1993, Roadrunner, Party, and Daddy Long Legs attended an ACA seminar and training session in Gulf Shores, Alabama. (I tell you, it was like riding with Thelma and Louise!) We had a good time and we even learned a few things, but the most beneficial part was the opportunity to meet leaders in the field (hah, hah) of camping. Two of those leaders were Debbie (Breeze) and Raymond (Ranger?) of the Camp Fire Boys and Girls’ Camp Ruth Lee in Clinton, La. We were invited to visit Camp Ruth Lee and found that it was very nice and most importantly, compact and centralized. Camp Ruth Lee hosted Camp Challenge for two years, 1993 and 1994. It was our first experience on our own, away from the Girl Scout Camp; and we learned a lot and grew a lot. We had many wonderful times at Camp Ruth Lee, but as the summer of 1995 approached we realized we had outgrown it. We were faced with the choice of trying to organize and staff two consecutive weeks (as we did in 1994) or move back to Camp Whispering Pines. After careful consideration we decided to try Camp Whispering Pines again. We now had a core of experienced, returning staff members, and we had developed a much more organized approach. We planned that first year back at the Girl Scout facility with the expressed intent of keeping the distances that people had to walk to a minimum and it seemed to work. Perhaps more because our “experienced” staff simply refused to walk great distances, than because of our careful planning. At any rate, we returned to Camp Whispering Pines for three more years, 1995, 1996, and 1997.

THE BOARD

The Board of Directors of Camp Challenge has evolved from an eager, but inexperienced beginning into a very capable group. Early meetings were held in a small meeting room in one of the portable buildings (could we be called trailer trash?) that served as the oncology offices, outback behind Children’s Hospital. That office was small and crowded, but served us well. Its most charming attribute was its proximity to a much more comfortable place, The Hoffbrau restaurant and bar, which served us well during those early, formative years. After we outgrew the outhouse, I mean the outback, meeting room at Children’s, we were welcomed in by the Ronald McDonald House. Many meetings were held in the comfortable, homelike setting of that big old house on Canal Street. Judy Weaver (Party) was the Director of the Ronald McDonald House and served for many years on the Board of Camp Challenge. Another big advantage of the Ronald McDonald House was that it allowed us to meet many new families and recruit many new campers. It served as storeroom, rallying point and workshop for many of our activities.

The Board of Camp Challenge has been served by many generous volunteers. Parents of Children with cancer, medical professionals, child life and social services professionals, community leaders, and lately even former campers who have grown up (sort of) and continued to volunteer.

THE VOLUNTEERS

Throughout its existence, Camp Challenge has relied almost exclusively on volunteers. The individuals are almost too numerous to name – actually, I’m afraid that I would forget some. But they have come from many different backgrounds and they have each made their own unique contribution. Over the past three or four years we have had the great fortune to have a strong group of experienced volunteers returning each year. Our organization has benefited tremendously from the selfless devotion of these core volunteers. We can’t thank them enough. And their most recent contribution has been to free the Board of Directors from the duties of organizing each camp session and allow us to begin to look forward to what the future has to offer.

THE CAMPERS

This is what we’re all about. The one “vision” and the one “value” that has guided us this far is the quote that I know I’ve heard many many times: “It’s for the Kids”. The campers are the heart of Camp Challenge. We started in the early years with 35 to 40 campers, and we’ve grown to as many as 130 or more in recent years. They come to us in all colors and sizes, and each is a unique personality. Some are very sick, some are the picture of health, but all of them know what it means to have cancer or to have a sibling with cancer. Many of the “patients” get well with time, but some, inevitably, don’t make it.

We love them all!! And they love camp. Camp Challenge is the highlight of their year. It’s fun and it means something. It’s an opportunity to share the experience, the challenge, of living with cancer.

“It’s for the Kids”

THE REST OF THE STORY

There is a lot missing in this history that I didn’t have the time or the memory to put down. With each successive year it should be expanded and filled in. Please don’t hesitate to offer your comments and corrections. Hopefully some day we’ll be able to finish our fairy tale. “… and they all lived happily ever after.”

* This “history” is my best recollection of how things were. Please feel free to correct any inaccuracies and fill in between the lines. This should be considered a “work in progress”, just like Camp, to be improved each year with the input of the good people who have made it happen.

last updated November 7, 2001