It’s 8:30 a.m. on a hot summer day, and a group of counselors holding bright posters wait to welcome children to camp. Suddenly a bus appears. Cheers burst out as the counselors jump up and down and crowd around to high-five and hug the campers as they arrive. The bus doors open, and the campers pile out with great big smiles. Now the day begins.
Horizon Day Camp is a special camp for children from all over Maryland and D.C. with cancer. Cancer is not exclusive to any religion, race, or nationality. It touches us all in one way or another. Children with cancer do not get many opportunities for fun and miss out on many activities. They are constantly being pricked and prodded. But once they arrive at Horizon, they enter a world where they are treated royally.
My name is Henia Gruner. I have been working at the camp since the doors opened in 2016. Horizon is an extraordinary camp, where a child can be a child and have fun. The campers’ faces are lit up by smiles throughout the day, no matter what activity they are participating in. They don’t want to go home at the end of the day. Last summer, many campers were crying towards the end of camp. When we asked them why, their reply was “I don’t want camp to end!” This is an environment where they feel safe, loved, and special!
Horizon Day Camp is special in other ways. First of all, it costs nothing. Both the child with cancer and his or her siblings attend tuition free. It is also very sensitive to the needs of the campers, including providing strictly kosher food and chalav Yisrael. In fact, the camps in Long Island and Israel are completely kosher. There are quite a few Jewish and frum staff members, and City Councilman Yitzy Schleifer as well as Dalya Attar are getting involved.
Every day, the campers take part in all the fun of a summer camp experience. Our activities include arts and crafts, swimming, sports, drama class, ropes course, ceramics, scrap booking, dance class, random fun dancing, creative expression, nature walks, and surprise special visitors, ranging from magicians to athletes to traveling planetariums to the Oriole Bird and beyond! The sky’s the limit here! Not to mention, our state-of-the-art carnivals, Big Kahuna water slide, and more!
None of this fun would exist without the amazing sponsors who not only contribute to the camp monetarily but also come and spend time with the campers! Our sponsors love interacting with the children.
This fabulous camp is only possible because of two very special men. Arnie Preminger is the founder and CEO of the Sunrise Association. He began Sunrise Camp in Long Island, NY. He told me that he had a thought of “What if we started a camp for children with cancer?” Horizon Day Camp opened its doors in the summer of 2006 and has been servicing hundreds of children each summer since then. As of today, there are eight camps: in Long Island, Pearl River, Staten Island, Baltimore, Atlanta, Georgia, and Israel (three locations). Each camp follows the same philosophy and all are very successful – because it’s all about the kinderlach.
What makes Horizon Day Camp unique? Well, let’s begin with Mark McElrath the executive director of the Baltimore location. Together with many others, Mark raises enough money to cover the all costs so the children can come to camp for free. The day camp runs for seven weeks. Some kids come every single day, some kids come when they can. Mark says, “Some children may have hospital treatments early in the week that knock them out for a few days, but then they’re back with us later in the week. This does not keep the patient’s siblings from attending camp daily. It’s really a plug-and-play system. On a daily basis, we might have 70 to 80 children here.”
What’s even more amazing is that you hardly ever know the difference between a patient and a sibling because everyone is treated equally. Many people wonder why the patient’s siblings are included in the camp experience. “They’re the forgotten child,” says Judy Fishkind, the Vice-President of Marketing. “They’re the ones who are being shuffled around when Mom and Dad are at the hospital. They can’t have friends over because of their brother’s or sister’s compromised immune system. The siblings are so protective of the primary child that we found that they don’t want to be apart from them. But within a day, they realize their sibling is okay in a very safe, comfortable place.”
Baltimore’s Horizon Day Camp is affiliated with four pediatric oncology hospitals in this region: Sinai Hospital, Johns Hopkins, University of Maryland, and D.C.’s Children’s National Hospital. The camp has an outstanding staff of nurses throughout the summer taking care of all the campers’ needs in an on-site Wellness Center. In addition to the nurses, we have two pediatric oncologists who are always there to assist us in any medical needs. Also, a very beloved woman in our community, Fran Sonnenschein, runs Horizon on Wheels. Fran goes to all the hospitals and visits the children. Together with her volunteers, she brings joy and excitement to the children in the hospital.
Will you help us continue making a difference in these children’s lives by joining us on October 28th at the Camden Yards Sports Complex, where you will have the opportunity to make a difference and physically see this extraordinary camp? Please help us make this difference. For more information, visit sunrise-walks.org/Baltimore or email sharon@horizondaycamp.org.
