INCLUSIVE FAMILY
‘Raising a Little Hell’
at Camp
Paul Newman, local camps encourage
kids with serious illnesses and
disabilities to experience life to the
fullest through inclusive camps
BY SASHA ROGELBERG
22 Washington FAMILY FEBRUARY 2023
PHOTO COURTESY OF HOLE IN THE WALL GANG CAMP
C to come into their own. No doubt the camp
experience has myriad benefits, but why
is it especially significant to children with
chronic health conditions?
Children with serious illnesses may
experience isolation from their peers and
have trouble developing skills in friend-
ship, or be rejected by their peers. The
stress, exhaustion or fear of an impend-
ing health crisis not only affects the mental
health of the child, but also of their parents
and siblings.

Camps like Hole in the Wall Gang serve
to soften those experiences by letting kids
just be themselves, meet other kids who
know what they’re going through and not
worry if they will have the accommoda-
tions they need.

“You go away to camp, and you’re
meeting all new people, meeting new coun-
selors, new kids that you’re bunking with,”
says Nicole Davis, Victoria’s mother. “Vic-
toria is very open, very kind and I just love
the way that came from a little bit of camp.

She’s not afraid to open herself up to new
things and just talk and meet new people.”
Hole in the Wall Gang Camp was founded
in 1988 by Paul Newman. The actor and
philanthropist was “acutely aware of how
fortunate he was, how he was in the right
place at the right time,” says Hole in the
Wall Gang Camp CEO Jimmy Canton of
Newman. “He was given looks that he
wasn’t responsible for, and he wanted to
pay that back. He was very moved by chil-
dren who just are dealt a very bad hand.

What’s in a Camp?
The tradition of summer camp is longstand- He just wanted them to experience what
ing for children of all ages, backgrounds life could be like: the beauty of life, love,
and abilities. It’s seen by many families as friendship, beauty, outdoors, play, ‘raising
an essential stepping stone for their child a little hell.”
amper Victoria Saunders loves
swimming at The Hole in the
Wall Gang Camp in the summer.

It’s not an activity she usually gets to do.

Living with sickle cell disease, 12-year-
old Victoria can’t jump into a cold pool or
lake, lest the sudden temperature change
triggers a pain crisis. At Hole in the Wall
Gang, the pools are heated, meaning no
sudden temperature drop — and no crisis.

The heated pools are one of many accom-
modations the camp, whose Hospital
Outreach Program (HOP) brings staff and
camp crafts and activities to the bedsides
of children at 33 hospitals in the Northeast
and Midatlantic, makes to ensure each of
its campers, who have severe and chronic
diseases, have a joyful camp experience.

In 2024, the HOP program will
expand to the DMV with a regional
office in Silver Spring, Maryland and
serve additional hospital locations in
the Washington, D.C. metro area to
complement a second summer camp
location on the Eastern Shore of Maryland.

That means campers such as Victoria,
who lives in Wilmington, Delaware, only
have to travel about an hour-and-a-half to
camp rather than almost five hours to Hole
in the Wall Gang’s current Ashford, Con-
necticut location. The camp will also be
able to increase the number of campers it
serves each year. It presently serves about
200 children between ages 7-15.




INCLUSIVE FAMILY
Find a Camp Near You
The feelings of belonging and
fun instilled by Hole in the
Wall Gang aren’t exclusive
to its soon-to-be two loca-
tions and hospital outreach
services. Camps throughout
the Mid-Atlantic and beyond
provide similar experiences for
children with serious illnesses
or disabilities
“Because our children are sen-
sitive and vulnerable, having a
safe place that is specialized and
attentive to them is very import-
ant,” says Andrew Hubner,
executive director of Auburn
Schools, which hosts Camp Aris-
hearing kids over the summer.

“The important thing for
the hearing campers and the
hearing counselors — the
importance of including them
— is so that they can under-
stand where deaf people and
Deaf culture is coming from,”
says Amy Norman, a board
member and former camper at
Deaf Camps, through an inter-
preter, Louise Rollins, Deaf
Camps’ board president.

In addition to fostering a
truly inclusive environment,
the camp also fosters learning,
acceptance and connections
across communities.

“He [Paul Newman] was
very moved by children who
just are dealt a very bad hand.”
—JIMMY CANTON
totle at its locations in Fairfax,
Virginia and Silver Spring, Mary-
land. The camp serves children
with autism, ADHD and learning
challenges. Like Hole in the Wall Gang,
Camp Aristotle has staff trained
to accommodate each child’s
needs and a high staff-to-camper
ratio. Similarly, Summer Sen-
sations Camp in Columbia,
Maryland, for children with
learning differences and sensory
processing challenges, pairs chil-
dren with differing social and
language skills in small groups so
that “everyone is learning from
one another,” the camp ‘s co-di-
rector Jolene Williams says.

Other camps also work with
campers who do not have a dis-
ability alongside those who do.

Deaf Camps, Inc., in Knoxville,
Maryland, hosts both deaf and
“We build bridges between
the two cultures,” Norman says.

Building Bridges
Hole in the Wall Gang builds
bridges by having medical staff
dress in camp uniforms and hav-
ing its “OK Corral Infirmary”
designed to look like a 19th
century mill.

Individualized care, paired
with the camp’s non-intimidat-
ing setting, helps kids feel at
ease with what is a brand new
experience for many of them.

On the weekend, parents can
even exchange tips and connect
with other familes, making them
feel less alone.

It helps kids with chronic and
life-threatening conditions and
their families to not feel so dif-
ferent for once—and that is
everything. 1
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