Editor’s note: September is Pediatric Awareness Month and Francesca Cudrin highlights Sunrise Day Camp for children with cancer where she worked as a counselor this summer.
When walking into Sunrise Day Camp – Pearl River, you will not notice anything resembling cancer. You’ll see children playing, making new friends, having fun, and enjoying typical camp activities. But more than that, you will see children getting the chance just to be children.
I had that chance myself this summer when I worked as a counselor and bus counselor at Sunrise, a free camp for children with cancer and their siblings. Although I’ve lived in South Orange all my life, I connected with the campers each morning by joining a bus route through Newark, East Orange and Montclair, then all the way to Pearl River, New York.
Bus counselors are among the first people the campers meet in the morning and the last in the afternoon. Each morning campers climbed aboard the bus, excited for the day ahead. On the way home, they talked about swimming, activities, new friends, and all sorts of things they could not wait to repeat the next day.
September is Pediatric Cancer Awareness Month, and for those who work with children with cancer, it’s the perfect time to make more communities aware of Sunrise. The Sunrise Association operates all its day camps, year-round activities, and in-hospital recreation sessions free of charge. Their goal is to return the joys of childhood to children with cancer and their brothers and sisters.
Sunrise welcomes children ages 3-1⁄2 to 16 who are undergoing treatment or have undergone treatment within the previous five years, as cleared by their doctors. Siblings are also welcomed even if the child with cancer is not attending camp. As a day camp, campers can receive medical treatment and return to the comfort of their homes at the end of the day.
Sunrise also offers free transportation to campers. Lori Cowen, who has been a Sunrise staffer for 9 summers, says the organization offered 14 bus routes this summer and transported campers from several counties in New York and northern New Jersey.
After retiring from a long career in publishing, Cowen wanted something more meaningful than freelancing when her high school friend, a fundraiser, introduced her to Sunrise.
Cowen first managed the transportation system, thus being able to say good morning to the campers’ families and goodbye at the end of the day. Later, she felt the need to become more part of the camp experience itself. Five summers ago, Cowen became a unit head for the high school campers.
Of the 14 campers from Cowen’s first unit, 14 came back to work at Sunrise this summer. In total, this summer Sunrise employed 29 former campers as counselors, bus counselors, unit heads and specialists in fields such as art, sports and wellness.
“After being campers themselves, they want to return,” said Cowen. “I think that’s what makes Sunrise so special.”
Cowen has seen children arrive at camp unsure and shy, then become more confident and connected during the summer. Once, she recalled, a first-year camper who used to stick close to her counselors but, by the end of the summer, had made friends with everyone in her unit. At the very end of the summer, the camp director took a photo of that girl hugging another camper; that is what Sunrise is all about, Cowen said.
Lori Gordon, right, with her niece Emily and an 11-year-old camper she first met when the camper was 3. (Photo by Zoe Abrams for Sunrise Day Camp)
For counselor Lily Gordon, that feeling of belonging is what made her come back for another summer.
“Sunrise never felt like a job,” said Gordon. “It felt like spending time with family, and the memories I made over the past two years I will forever cherish.”
An episode with one camper in particular summed it up for Gordon. The camper asked her why his doctor recommended Sunrise specifically, and, being unsure how much he knew about the camp’s purpose, Gordon gave a simple reply.
“Because it’s the best camp. We get ice cream every day, we swim, sing songs. What is there not to love?”
The camper agreed and told Gordon he was glad his doctor had told him about Sunrise, then ran to hug her. For Gordon, that moment showed just how well the camp provides a traditional, joyful summer experience for children forced to live with appointments and treatments.
Besides being a counselor, Lily also helps to organize Sunrise’s youth fundraising team along with Lola Levit and me. Because all Sunrise programs are free, fundraising helps children and their siblings come to Sunrise each summer without additional expenses for their families.
“It is not just a number or a goal,” said Gordon. “It is another summer for a child to laugh, make friends, try new things and escape reality for a little while.”
A Camper Who Returned to Give Back
That cycle of giving back is especially personal for Aidan Edelman, one of Sunrise’s original campers. Some of his earliest memories include playing Gaga with friends, riding the bus and forming relationships with his counselors.
Since other campers also have an understanding of experiences pertaining to childhood cancer, Edelman explained that it gave his family a special feeling. As a child, he attended Sunrise with his sister Angelina, who ultimately died of cancer.
“It brings back memories of my sister when I think of Sunrise. Many of my best memories of her were at Sunrise, and I just love that Sunrise gave us a place to call home together,” said Edelman.
Eventually, Edelman became a counselor and assistant unit head at Sunrise to help young children find the same camaraderie he had developed with his counselors.
Hope, his younger sister, now attends Sunrise too. Although Hope never got to meet Angelina, Edelman said camp gives her the opportunity to experience a place Angelina loved and learn more about who her sister was.
Edelman’s experiences also influence his relationships with the campers. He knows how young the kids are and what some of them have been through, and that forges a bond with them.
“Hopefully what people take away is the importance of reaching out to these families who are suffering so much and that all forms of outreach are so much more meaningful than you can imagine,” Edelman said.
Counselor Frankie Cudrin with camper and Camp Director Olivia Vogel (right). (Photo by Zoe Abrams for Sunrise)
Olivia Vogel, director of Sunrise Day Camp-Pearl River, said Sunrise is the world’s first full-summer day camp for children with cancer and their siblings, and is designed to give children the friendships, independence and experiences of summer camp while also meeting their medical and emotional needs.
“At Sunrise, cancer does not get to take away summer,” Vogel said. “Our campers get to make friends, try new things, gain independence, and most importantly, simply be kids.”
Because Sunrise builds bus routes each summer around where enrolled campers live, it would add a Maplewood-South Orange pick up point if eligible local families enroll.
“Transportation should never be the reason an eligible child cannot experience Sunrise,” Vogel said. “We would absolutely explore adding a stop in the MAPSO area to make camp accessible to local families.”
Free transportation is important because Sunrise families may already be balancing work, summer schedules, medical appointments and treatment, she said. Transportation removes an additional responsibility from parents’ agendas and makes it easier for their kids to join the camp.
According to Vogel, it takes about $7,000 to give one child the summer experience at Sunrise Camp. It is financed by donations and fundraising campaigns and allows Sunrise to organize transport for kids, provide programming, hold special events and organize other experiences absolutely for free for the families.
There are plenty of ways to support Sunrise, and more information can be found on the Get Involved page of the Sunrise Association.
Camp counselor (and writer) Frankie Cudrin with a camper. (Photo by Zoe Abrams for Sunrise Day Camp)
I came to Sunrise hoping to make the campers’ summers a bit brighter. What I did not expect is that I would be affected so much by the campers myself. They taught me to value everyday moments and never to underestimate what someone else might be going through.
Although I don’t know the whole story behind each camper’s smile, I consider myself fortunate to see those smiles every day on the bus, in the pool, at camp, and with their friends. By introducing Sunrise to the MAPSO community, I hope more families will learn about the organization, and more community members will help make another free summer for the campers possible.
Francesca “Frankie” Cudrin is a 12th grade student at Columbia High School and is working with Village Green as a paid freelancer through a grant from the NJ Civic Information Consortium.
Readers who would like to directly support Frankie’s Sunrise Squad fundraiser can donate through her personal fundraising page.
