Happiness Is Camping (HIC) is a free, residential summer camp for children with cancer, ages 6-15, and their siblings. HIC operates for five week-long sessions in July and August and hosts 65-80 children each week. HIC is able to offer our summer camp program for free thanks to the generous support of our donors. Campers come largely from New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania. We serve 19 hospitals each summer, including Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, The Children's Hospital at Montefiore, and The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. Our volunteer medical staff consists of doctors and nurses from the same hospitals where our campers are treated, giving medical staff the opportunity to bond with their patients outside of a hospital setting. Because we are able to administer chemotherapy in our Health Center, HIC can take even the sickest children on active treatment. Our program resembles any "traditional" camp. Our campers shoot archery, climb the high ropes, play dodgeball, make arts and crafts, and voraciously compete in our annual Color Wars competition. The main difference between HIC and a more traditional camp is that some of our campers might have to receive a chemotherapy treatment before they hop into the pool. HIC is a place where miracles are the norm. It's a place where a child who recently lost their hair can take off their wig for the first time. It's a place where a sibling can have fun with their brother or sister for the first time since they were diagnosed with cancer. It's a place where strangers become family, where chemotherapy treatments are nothing more than an activity between arts & crafts and ropes, and where you might even find a prosthetic limb in the lost and found. Happiness Is Camping is a place where kids with cancer can finally be normal kids again.
