A ray of light

Sunrise Israel offers families of children suffering from cancer a much-needed respite.

By PAMELA PELED
Ray of light 521 (photo credit: Courtesy: Sunrise Israel )
Ray of light 521
(photo credit: Courtesy: Sunrise Israel )
When cancer knocks on the door of your world, it does not wait for an invitation. It barges right in with an entourage in tow, camps in your life and takes over: treatments, side-effects, financial and emotional costs, fear and exhaustion. And most of all, a kind of terrible loneliness for the caretakers, wondering who will take over, just for a few hours, so that they can rest or do the laundry? When the caretakers are parents, with other children who need help with homework and hot meals, mom and dad often don’t even get to the most urgent to-do items, let alone sneak a quiet moment to rest.
Sunrise Israel recognizes this need, and has stepped in with the country’s only day camp for children with cancer and their siblings, geared to giving the children a good time and providing their parents with essential hours on their own. Camp Sunrise caters to children who are fighting cancer – and to their siblings, who are helping them win the fight. In certain cases, even if the cancer patient is too young for the camp (campers are five to 17 years old), older siblings are accepted.
Each year about 450 new cases of pediatric cancer are diagnosed here and about 1,500 Israeli children are fighting cancer today. Since 2010, over 200 of them have been welcomed into Sunrise and given the opportunity to just be children.
Bright banners sway welcomingly each August at the camp gate, which is tucked away in the Even Yehuda Community Center just south of Netanya. A warm, sunny logo shines from every shirt – blue and green for the counselors, white for the kids. A misting tent sprays a fine dew when the sun is too hot.
The camp does not do glitz and glamor – there are no trips to Disneyland or soccer stars who drop in to say hi – just old-fashioned fun and games in a warm and welcoming environment. There are art and music, theater and dance; workshops on marzipan-making and chocolate-molding and Beat-Boxing. There are outdoor training and photography, swimming and soccer. And there is a “rest room” where campers can sleep if they are tired. Nurses are on call permanently to deal with medical matters. The camp is set up to make every child comfortable, with wheelchair-accessible classrooms and dining hall.
“Although there are lots of good programs for kids with cancer in Israel, this is the only long-term daily option,” explains Sara Sless, who heads the Sunrise Israel non-profit organization. Based on an American model set up by Arnie Preminger, CEO of the Barry and Florence Friedberg Jewish Community Center in Long Island, New York, the camp offers three and a half weeks of supervised fun and learning in a safe, pampering environment. Last year, 150 campers (40 percent fighting cancer, 60% siblings) arrived every morning and forgot about their treatments until long after lunchtime.
Each year, campers are bused in under supervision from around the country and taken home again when the camp day ends. A few times a week the whole group goes in to Even Yehuda for a dip in the pool; hot lunches are served every day by devoted volunteers who ladle out lots of love along with the soup and salads; and bread and spreads are available constantly for kids on steroids, who need to eat.
“We are an island of normalcy for families, where their children can learn, enjoy themselves and make new friends,” says camp director Hagar Yona. “We have all the usual activities that you would expect: sports, Frisbee competitions, obstacle runs. We just adapt ourselves to our campers’ needs.” So the soccer ball is soft and spongy to eliminate hard knocks, the Frisbee has a special no-bruise design and the obstacle course is friendly and safe.
There are no computers; these campers have enough of them at home and in hospital. At Sunrise the emphasis is on personal interaction. Bottles of anti-bacterial gel stand guard at every door against infections, and everyone wears hats – both against the sun and so the children without hair don’t stand out. “Unless it is necessary for practical reasons, our counselors don’t know who is fighting cancer and who is a sibling,” says Hagar. “Everyone is equal and everyone is here to have fun.”
FUN INCLUDES makeup sessions with brightly colored lipsticks and face paints. Each year, in air-conditioned classrooms, Russians and Ethiopians and Arabs and Jews, religious and secular, healthy and fighting to be healthy, apply deep purples and oranges to their eyelids. In one corner of the room a little girl in a wheelchair is totally absorbed in drawing on another child’s cheek; every now and then her friend wheels her to the mirror so she can observe the progress on her own face. In another room a group of youngsters threads vivid skeins of yarn into shapes; a little girl in a head scarf laughs animatedly as she winds the wool.
Obviously, there are challenges: last year two of the campers were almost blind – one from a brain tumor and one from treatment; one sibling was so wild that he was kept busy with around-the-clock personal supervision. One year, a child came to camp in a helmet in case she fell; the sister of a cancer sufferer who twisted her ankle and was taken to be X-rayed screamed in terror as doctors approached. Camp personnel had to explain her dread of hospitals to the bewildered medical staff.
Further complicating the dynamics is the date: camp fell in the middle of Ramadan last year, when the 27 Muslim children in the group and their five counselors were fasting. Ramadan and Tisha Be’av were marked by inclusive activities – campers brought “show and tell” items from home and explained family traditions to each other, across racial and religious lines.
In addition to general activities, each day has to be planned as a complete unit; children who need chemotherapy have to miss camp sessions, although last year saw a 70% attendance each day.
All of the children with cancer are referred to the camp by social workers from hospitals. “The social worker from Ichilov [Sourasky Medical Center], for example, came to visit her patients and just couldn’t believe how happy the kids were,” says Sless. “And for the parents it’s a much needed break. We’ve had feedback from families who say that for the first time in ages they talk to their children about something other than treatment and medication over dinner.” One couple thanked the camp for giving them the opportunity to have their first breakfast together in a year; another woman confessed that the time alone with her husband that Sunrise provided had helped shore up her marriage.
Sunrise Israel programs cost half a million dollars each year to run, and participation is absolutely free of charge for all participants. When Sunrise opened its doors in 2010, funding came mainly from North America’s “American Friends of Sunrise Israel,” and the New York Federation of UJA was a major backer too. Today, Sunrise Israel is working hard to raise money here for this unique project; to date it covers 25% of the funds and is looking to expand.
In addition to funds, Sunrise America provided knowledge and protocols: how to meet medical needs (doctors and nurses on call, a ratio of one counselor per three campers). Most of the 40 counselors have finished their army service, and many have additional experience from a year of community service in Israel or from working in North American summer camps. The counselors are paid but many of the other staff are volunteers, including adults who help to serve meals or run workshops. Even the police got involved; after a routine security check of the premises, a team of policemen returned with forensic equipment and laser guns and taught the mesmerized campers a thing or two about detective work.
Sunrise is growing from year to year. Sless hopes that this coming summer, 220 campers will have fun in the sun in Even Yehuda. In addition, in response to the request of parents, this year will see a Passover Sunrise, with a five-day pre-Passover camp from April 1 to 5. Visitors and volunteers are all welcome.
Sunrise raises funds from the business world and from foundations and by organizing sponsored runs and events as well as receiving donations from private individuals and inkind services. Sunrise B’kehila (Sunrise in the Community) works with local community centers under the auspices of both the Israel Association and Federation of Community Centers, connecting Sunrise families with local centers that provide support and care. Sunrise also runs a Shishi Sameah (“Happy Friday”) on the lines of American “Fun Sundays,” where children can meet up throughout the year with friends and counselors from camp.
Incidentally, Sunrise shines a little light on some other made-in-Israel issues: on the first day of camp last summer a camper turned to his counselor and asked, “Are you a good Arab or a bad Arab?” To which all the counselors, Jewish and Arab, secular and religious, replied, “The people at Sunrise are not defined by their race or religion. There are only good people in our world.”