JCC pediatric cancer camp provides patients with much-needed break

FREDONIA, Wis. - For many kids, summer break means a lot of time outside. For others, that time was spent in a hospital.

Summer camp is a special experience for any kid, but for kids at the Jewish Community Center's Rainbow Day Camp, it's more than that – and a much-needed break.

"It gives them a chance to be a child. To be able to do the things that other kids to do in the summer," said Lenny Kass, the camp's executive director.

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Roughly 50 kids from the Children's Wisconsin oncology unit got to experience the JCC's Rainbow Day Camp.

"Kids with cancer, being able to swim in the pool – being able to be a child for a day, and not having to worry about being in a hospital," Kass said. "They might not be able to go to a regular camp program."

Counselors and health care practitioners help make it happen.

"We have a doctor and two nurses, so that the kids could come who actually might be dealing with cancer," said Kass.

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"I see a lot of kids at work when they’re sick, and at their lowest points," said Children's Wisconsin nurse Katie Casper.

Tuesday was the opposite. 

"To see them out of the hospital, playing, is just so awesome," Casper said. "Kids who I saw at the beginning, who were super skinny, not eating a lot, now look like healthy running kids."

Not only did the kids get a day full of fun activities, it let them see they're not alone.

"The kids get to bond with other children, that might be dealing with some of the same things they are," Kass said. "Kids deserve to be kids. They didn’t choose to get these diseases. So, let's help them be kids."

Tuesday marked the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic that the camp was allowed to bring kids back.