SUNRISE DAY CAMPS ASSOCIATION INC

Sunrise Association Day Camps began as a dream. In 2005, there were no day camps in the world for children with cancer – only sleepaway camps, held for one or two weeks each summer. Knowing how hard it can sometimes be for parents to send a healthy child away to camp, one can only imagine how a parent of a child with cancer feels. So started the journey to create Sunrise Day Camp, a magical place where children can forget about their cancer and celebrate their childhood. After 18 months of intensive research and planning, the first Sunrise Day Camp was opened on Long Island in 2006 to 96 registered campers and their siblings. It was the first and only day camp of its kind in the world, offered entirely free of charge. Because it’s a day camp, Sunrise allows children in active treatment to continue with their home doctors, while attending camp each day. This unique concept also allows children the comfort of sleeping in their own beds each night – a comfort not only for the campers, but for their parents as well. When a child has cancer, it affects the entire family with siblings often feeling ignored since much of their parents’ time needs to be devoted to the ill child. At Sunrise, siblings have the opportunity to play and interact as other brothers and sisters do; they are free to be with friends in a very normal, fun way while escaping the constant worry often found in a home with a chronically ill child. It also helps them better understand and deal with their sibling’s illness and their own feelings. There are currently eight Sunrise Association Day Camps — three in New York (Long Island, Pearl River and Staten Island), three in Israel (Beit Yehoshuah, Be’er Sheva and Ramat Yochanan) Horizon Day Camp in Baltimore, Maryland and Aurora Day Camp in Atlanta, Georgia.

The mission of the Sunrise Association is to bring back the joys of childhood to children with cancer and their siblings world-wide. This mission is accomplished through the creation of Sunrise Day Camps, Year-Round Programs and In-Hospital Recreational Activities, all offered free of charge.