By Alison Rubin | Development Director, Sunrise Day Camp-Pearl River
Sunrise on Wheels is the newest, and perhaps the most exciting year-round project that has come from our Sunrise Day Camp Summer program, bringing the day camping experience right into the Pediatric Hematology/Oncology Departments of our affiliated hospitals.
Throughout the year, so many of our Sunrise campers spend countless hours sitting in the waiting rooms of their outpatient clinics, anticipating lab work, checkups, receiving chemotherapy treatments and follow up routines. This experience can be long, monotonous, and even frightening.
But our Sunrise on Wheels program works to counter that experience by bringing the joy and excitement of camp to children undergoing cancer treatment. Here’s how it works - the best of Sunrise Day Camp’s trained volunteers and staff bring a rolling, rainbow camp trunk filled with toys, puzzles, games, arts and crafts, and special surprises into inpatient and outpatient units. We bring to these children simple toys such as dominoes, handheld puzzle games, Etch-A-Sketch, and Ants in the Pants. As the children dig deeper into the magical trunk, they also find board games such as Let's Go Fishing, Backgammon, Candy Land, and Trouble. Reach into the trunk even further, and arts and crafts supplies like Do-A-Dot, coloring books, stickers, markers, and paints will burst through to the surface. There are quiet games for individual children and daily group activities so everyone can play together. Sunrise on Wheels also offers an extra special themed art project each week for the children, coinciding with holidays and special events. Of course we would never forget our parents and families, whose days are also tedious and taxing; we bring special things for them to do as well, such as Internet ready laptop computers, tablets and hand held games. Our magical trunk is constantly changing, and our children and families continue to be surprised at every new Sunrise on Wheels session.
In 2009, our Sunrise Long Island camp piloted this most amazing program at Cohen Children’s Medical Center. Since then, we have expanded to many other hospitals including, Stony Brook University Medical Center, Mount Sinai Medical Center, The Children’s Hospital at Montefiore, NYU/Langone Medical Center, Maimonides Medical Center and Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.
In 2014, Sunrise Day Camp at Pearl River will launch its first Sunrise on Wheels program at Maria Fareri Children’s Hospital at Westchester Medical Center. We are currently recruiting and training volunteers who, under staff supervision, will bring the healing power of Sunrise to children undergoing cancer treatment in the Westchester County, NY. But we can’t stop there. With your help, Sunrise Day Camp at Pearl River can bring Sunrise on Wheels to all of our affiliated hospitals and keep the magic of a Sunrise Summer going all year long.
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