St. Joseph’s Center for Community Service in Clayton is trying to brighten the lives of children undergoing cancer treatment by hosting Kay’s Kamp August 8-15.
The Kaylyn Elaine Warren Foundation is named in loving memory of Kaylyn who was diagnosed at the age of 17 with acute lymphoblastic leukemia, which she battled for 17 months. Kay’s dream was to open a free summer camp for kids suffering from cancer.
Every year the camp will have a theme. “Kay’s Dream” is the theme for the first year.
The mission of Kay’s Kamp is to provide children ages 6-16 currently battling cancer and those now in remission the opportunity to participate in a unique camping experience promoting fun and normalcy free of charge. Kay’s Kamp is staffed entirely by volunteers and is a member of the Children’s Oncology Camping Association-International.
According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), Delaware is among the top 10 states with the highest incident of cancers that don’t have an oncology facility where children with cancer can go and have some fun while being treated without another hospital visit.
Marc Ostroff, Executive Director of St. Joseph’s Center for Community Service, said they are happy to host Kay’s Kamp at the community center.
“We were just thrilled,” Ostroff said. “They told us the story about Kaylyn, that she had been sick for a long time and she wanted a camp like this and there weren’t any in Delaware. They talked to someone who told them to take a walk at St. Joe’s. They pushed her around in a wheelchair and she said this is where I want my camp to be, make it happen, then she died three days later. When someone lays a story like that on you, you get excited, maybe have a tear in your eye. It was a matter of what the timing would be. Would we want to or would we be supportive was not even a question.”
Kaylyn’s mother, Laurie Warren, said she called Ostroff last November and told him what she would like to do and that she thought St. Joe’s would be the perfect place.
“They have been wonderful,” said Warren. “They have been amazing. Marc is the nicest person. He has accommodated all of our needs.”
Kay’s dream: help kids with cancer “experience some normalcy”
Warren said Kaylyn always loved camping, and when she was diagnosed with cancer, her dream of opening bed & breakfast turned to opening a camp for kids with cancer.
“Kay’s dream was to open a summer camp where kids suffering from all types of childhood cancers could experience some normalcy in their not-so-normal lives,” Warren said. “My husband Bill and I, blessed with the help of a number of very close, dedicated friends, have been working hard to make that happen.”
Warren said she believes God is helping her make her daughter’s dream come true because everything they need is falling into place.
“I keep saying, ‘This is so much work. What was I thinking,’” Warren said. “When your child wants to do something, you do it. That’s why I'm doing it.”
The camp is one week long. Laurie Warren hopes in the future it can be more than a week. Only three campers have signed up right now but the applications are now available online.
A staff of CPR certified counselors, oncology nurses, and 24/7 medical coverage by an on-call or on-site doctor will medically supervise Kay’s Kamp.
The counselors will be at camp August 8 to set-up. The kids arrive on Sunday, August 9 and leave the following Saturday afternoon.
“We are hoping to have a picnic when the parents are there,” Warren said.
The kids are going to sleep in tents in one of the buildings at St. Joseph’s. There will be two wings, a boy’s wing and a girl’s wing. That’s considered their cabin. Portable showers and beds are being brought into St. Joe’s for the campers. Other details are still being worked out.
Ostroff said the Public Department of Health had to approve that St. Joe’s has the proper facilities for the camp.
“They’re kids,” Ostroff said. “The idea is that they’re going to act like any other kids at camp.”
There will be a newsletter sent to the parents while the kids are in camp. The parents will be able to go online and see what their kids are doing. It will not be open to the public. The parents will have a password so only the parents can access it. They won’t take pictures and put them on the website without consent.
Mary Ellen McKnight is the Medical Coordinator for Kay’s Kamp. She was Kaylyn’s nurse when she had cancer, and her daughter was good friends with Kaylyn.
McKnight said she has a number of volunteers lined up to work at the camp this summer.
“There are already 20 nurses that have volunteered,” she said. “Three of them will be there 24/7. We’re still looking for more. We’re talking about 24 hours a day for 7 days.”
McKnight and Warren believe that the camp will be ready by the scheduled start date in August.
“If we have 5 we’re running camp. If we have 100 we’re running camp,” McKnight said.
While there have been plenty of volunteers, what the camp needs now is supplies and equipment.
“We have no medical supplies,” McKnight said. “We need supplies and funding. We need funding because kids are coming free of charge. We need things as simple as over the counter medications and cough drops. We want to offer chemotherapy. We’re going to transfer the kids in golf carts. We need food donations for three meals a day, crutches, wheelchairs. We need all supplies. We need everything from Band-aids to central line catheters.”
“That’s going to be the hardest part,” she said. “We have to start from the ground up. Then we’ll have storage we can carry from year to year. The foundation was established in June 2007. We established the foundation knowing our goal was the camp. We’ll absolutely be up and running.”
Donations needed, fundraisers planned
Warren said they are accepting donations and still need more to have the camp ready in time.
“We have sent out donation requests to different businesses,” Warren said. “We will have two big fundraisers before the camp starts. We are having a black tie gala at the Deerfield Golf Club on March 14. There will be an auction. We are asking for donations for the auction. In May, we will have our 5K run.”
Kay’s Challenge is February 1 to May 1. The challenge is for youth groups and schools. If they have a uniform at school they can pay a dollar to wear jeans. The winner gets a party. There will be a winning grade and a winning youth group. The progress of all the participants will be kept on the website. Anyone who would like to participate should contact Mary Ellen McKnight as soon as possible.
The Kaylyn Elaine Warren foundation will take donations of any kind. They are hoping that a lot of people will donate. All donations are tax deductible.
To apply for the camp or make a contribution visit www.KaysKamp.org. For more information about the foundation visit www.kewf.org.
To donate supplies, call Mary Ellen McKnight at 302-438-6184 or 1-888-KEWF-413 or visit memcknight@kewf.org.
