We hope you have enjoyed reading the memories of campers, volunteers, parents and grandparents over the past 30 weeks leading up to Camp Sunshine’s 30th Anniversary Alumni and Volunteer Reunion this weekend. This week marks our final post in this series and celebrates several of our teen week campers.

My favorite memory is dancing [at summer camp] with Liz. I taught her how to do the Hoedown Throwdown and other dances.

- Katie Story

I remember my third year at camp my cabin – Cabin 8 – snuck into the Sunshine kitchen and stole Miss Ann’s bucket of ice cream. We ate it in the kitchen late at night, topped with M&M’s and chocolate syrup. Justin [Allmett] came in and our cabin mom scared him away. We had so much fun and laughed really hard!

- Savita Archer

My favorite memory is when all of my cabin was just about to settle in for the night and one of the boys cabins showed up outside. They told us to come out. When we were all outside, the boys started singing “Goodnight Sweetheart” to us.

- Tori Johnston

My best camp memory is when my cabin snuck out at night and went to the tennis courts. We decorated for the tennis tournament. It was crazy enough that a few of the guys snuck out of their cabin too so we decorated together.

-Miranda Matani

Eleven year old Jdyka “JJ” Wiggins was a brand new camper this year at Summer Camp’s Junior Week. Read on for her advice to campers heading to their first summer camp!

Hello, this is your first time going to camp? Well if it is you shouldn’t be scared. You can do a lot of stuff that you can’t do at home. Like be on the radio and bang on the table. It’s lots of fun. You might think Ugh, I’m going to meet people, but to be honest I was like that and it gets easier. But you shouldn’t think like that because there might be people with what [cancer] you have so you’re not alone. The way I say look at it is, WOW! I met someone just like me. Even some of the counselors had cancer. So they also get what you had to go through. You can go horseback riding, fishing, carnival, farm, pool, kayaking, canoeing, paddleboating, eat, learn magic, meet Georgia football players, do sports, cabin time. Now you will always have a grownup with you so you won’t ever be alone. Um you will get your medicine like usually.

Parents, don’t worry, they’re in good hands.

When I went fishing I caught one catfish and three brims. So maybe you can catch more. There’s a lot of stuff to do – fun stuff and fun stuff you learn.

HAVE FUN    BE HAPPY    BE NICE    BE CARING

Abby Collins is a 15 year old camper who has been involved with Camp Sunshine since 2010. Below is her favorite memory from her first year at summer camp!

My favorite memory of Camp Sunshine was my very first year at Camp. I was really nervous, but when I got there everyone just welcomed me like I had been there for years. Also, I enjoyed putting an article  in [The Daily Sunshine] camp newspaper and to be on the Teen Council. I was so excited when I found out I had made it! I really enjoyed the big screen on the green movie at camp.

Emily Puckett is a 13 year old Camp Sunshine camper who began attending summer camp back in 2005 at age seven. Her favorite memory is from 2006, and is all about her best friend Katie.

My favorite memory is meeting my best friend Katie at Camp Sunshine when I was eight years old. I never thought we would even become friends, but today we are best friends and we talk to each other every day. We tell each other everything and when one of us has a problem, we try and help each other out. I’ll never have another friend like Katie. She is the best! I love her as though she is my sister.

For this week’s blog post, I thought I’d share with you some of the memories that our campers shared with us from Summer Camp. Campers were asked to complete the following sentence:

“While I was at camp, it was really cool when……..”

- I got to meet people going through the same thing.

- I became extremely close to all my friends there; I know they will be my best friends for a lifetime.

- I played harmonica for the talent show.

- The Army guy gave his patch to my friend.

- I found out I was special.

- I got to ride the horses and feed the animals on the farm.

- I won the tennis tournament!

- I got a hair do and makeup.

- I got to try zip lining for the first time!

- We got our awards (the entire cabin discusses and chooses for the individual camper, not just the counselors) and I could see what touching things my cabin mates actually thought about me.

- We got to climb the pamper pole and go to the best dance EVER.

- We go to play football with the Georgia Bulldogs.

- When we did the spirit checks in the dining hall.

- I climbed the rock wall three times in a row!

- I hit a bullseye at archery.

- We all came together as a Camp Sunshine family.

- I spent time with my friends and lived the life I would have if I had never been diagnosed.

- I wasn’t the only kid without hair and I wasn’t stared at!

Duncan Dobie has been a volunteer with Camp Sunshine since the organization began in 1983. His daughter, Catherine, was a camper and his wife Kappi also volunteers. We hope you enjoy his reflections over the past 30 years!

If I could relive the past 30 years, I’d probably do a lot of things differently in my life, but I would never change one thing about my days spent as a volunteer at Camp Sunshine. Best I can figure, I’ve spent over 80 weeks of my life at various camp functions over the past three decades.

I thank my lucky stars for Camp Sunshine. Being associated with camp changed my life and in many ways helped mould me into the person I am today. Camp has long been a way of life for me and my family. Kappi and I learned early on that going to camp was not about us. It was about doing everything within our power as part of a team of special volunteers to make sure the children in attendance were having the best week of their lives. Whenever that happens, and we’ve watched it happen every summer for the past 30 years, we’ve been rewarded beyond our wildest expectations!

Certainly we attend camp for the children, but the devotion, talent and generosity that our one-of-a-kind, volunteer staff brings to the table every year never ceases to amaze and inspire me as well. It is always a powerful influence and great source of energy for me. When I’m inspired, I know I can accomplish anything, and Camp Sunshine certainly gives me that kind of inspiration. At camp, anything is possible!

Two summers ago, an eight-year-old girl with only one arm signed up to climb the rock wall. As the time drew near for her rendezvous with the wall, she approached her counselor apprehensively and said, “I forgot that I only had one arm when I signed up.” That afternoon, she went up to the top of that wall like there was no tomorrow! Everyone in camp knew about her achievement and applauded it.

The well-known philosopher and teacher Joseph Campbell once said that when we do things outside of the box – outside the humdrum business of spending most of our time meeting the demands of life – what we are really seeking is the feeling of being truly alive. Some people like to parachute out of airplanes or go bungee jumping to seek their thrills. For me, Camp Sunshine is the ultimate real-life experience. To witness a child hit the bull’s eye on the archery range and later joyfully tell all of his or her friends about it is magical. To see the elation in as child’s face when he or she has earned a green wrist band indicating they can swim in deep water is indescribable. I am never more alive than during those special days in the sun at Camp Sunshine. I’m sure this feeling is universal at every oncology camp across the world. Like all of the amazing children’s cancer camps across North America, Camp Sunshine is the real deal!

Thirty years has gone by in the blink of an eye. I wish it had been a lot more.

This week’s post is by Dustin Stelzer, a longtime camper and Camp Sunshine alumni. Of course, NO pranks occur now at camp  This is a great story about a fun night!

Hello there, It’s Dustin Stelzer, just thought I throw a memory out there. There once was a time when pranks were the thing to do before rule changes of course. I remember when I was a camper senior, Reed myself and I think a couple others had some new campers heard about the pranks and we decided to show them the ropes. All during the night of course. It was nothing bad just a simple run through the girls cabin yelling for a nice scare. (yes we broke some rules that night not that anyone reading this should duplicate ). We told them go to the back and when gave the signal to run and hollar. Reed and myself would pull the front door to help them out. We said go they screamed and yelled. The girls freaked out so we went to pull the door and all we know was the door was locked. We looked at each other and said ooppss. Then we heard thud thud thud thud. The guys hit the door so we yelled to go back and we all went back to our meeting point and laughed.

Good old times I must say.

This week’s memory (well, memorIES) comes from Nicole Crawley, who just returned from Teen Week of Summer Camp. We hope you enjoy her post!

My name is Nicole Crawley, and I have been going to camp for 9 years now.  Camp is like a second home to me, and it’s where I  really fit in at.  So in all honesty I can’t give you my favorite memory, but I can tell you my top 3 favorite moments.  Any moment where I am with my friends and we are all laughing having the best time of our lives is a favorite moment, because they are my REAL friends, and they accept me for me, not anyone else. My second favorite moment is when my cabin at the end of the week gives our counselors something, and it puts the biggest smile on their faces.  Their smiles let me know and the rest of my cabin know that they do love us, and that they enjoy being at camp with us. My third and final favorite moment is when we sing all of our different songs with Scott, and when we have our arms around one another letting them know that Camp Sunshine will always be there for them.  Camp Sunshine gives kids the chance to be around kids and even adults who went through the same thing they did, and letting them also know that the friends you make at Camp Sunshine are everlasting.  If you put all what I have said together it creates my all time favorite memory of Camp Sunshine.

This week’s memory is from Samantha Vickers-Briones, a former camper from the early years of Camp Sunshine. Samantha is now married to Dr. Michael Briones, an oncologist at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, and they have made supporting Camp Sunshine a family affair.

When I arrived at Camp Sunshine for the first time in 1986, I could not believe my eyes. I saw other children like myself that had or were undergoing treatment for cancer. I was treated at an adult hospital for Orbital Rhabdomyosarcoma and never came into contact with another child. That week at Camp Sunshine – and many summers to follow – allowed healing, acceptance of myself and long lasting friendships. Thirty years later I still have contact with fellow Camp Sunshine campers and staff. Great memories…