Camp Kesem supports kids of cancer patients

By Tina Nazerian     1/13/14 6:00pm

A group of undergraduate students have brought Camp Kesem, a national program whose chapters at over 50 universities organize a free weeklong summer camp for children of cancer patients, to Rice University. The group hopes to host 30 campers at its inaugural camp, according to Baylor College of Medicine student Vidya Eswaran.

Eswaran, who helped create the program's Rice chapter, said Camp Kesem's mission is to recognize and embrace the often-overlooked population of children affected by a parent's cancer, as well as to empower college student leaders to create free, life-changing summer camps for the children.

According to Eswaran, there were camps at Texas A&M University and the University of Texas, Austin, but none to serve the Houston area.

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"When I moved back to Houston to attend medical school, I felt that Houston could really benefit from a Camp Kesem chapter," Eswaran said. "With the Texas Medical Center and the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in our backyards, there are many patients and families battling cancer. I felt like people in Houston could really benefit from what Camp Kesem has to provide."

Camp Kesem won its second Livestrong grant in 2013, which allowed for 10 more camps, including Rice's, to be founded, Eswaran said. 

The first camp will be held from Aug. 3-8 at the Uskichitto Retreat Center in Leblanc, La.,  according to the Rice Camp Kesem website.

Co-director Stacey Yi said the operations team narrowed down campsites to those accredited by the American Camp Association within a three-hour radius from Houston. 

"Together with Camp Kesem National, we decided that the state we held our camp in didn't matter as much as the distance away from Houston," Yi, a Duncan College sophomore, said. "Camp Uskichitto turned out to be one of our favorite campsites as well as the best fit for our camp's needs."

Marketing co-coordinator David Lam said the coordinators are working to make the impact last beyond the camp. 

"After we have our first camp, we're having a reunion for [the campers] that involves their [families]," Lam, a Martel College sophomore, said.

Yi said the camp's schedule and activities will be created by the operations team and that applications for the operations committee will be released Jan. 15 and are due Jan. 19.

"The operations team is currently planning activities that include arts and crafts, rock climbing, low ropes course, daily swimming, mini golf, archery, and probably lots of outdoor games and sports," Sophia Parente, the Rice Camp Kesem operations co-coordinator, said.

Parente, a Duncan College senior, said the operations team might try to include a downriver canoe trip if there are enough older campers. 

According to co-director Mariah Lawhon, the Rice Camp Kesem coordinators' short-term goals are to increase awareness and gain support on campus and in the greater Houston area, and their long-term goals are maintaining a sustainable and growing student organization benefitting the city.

"Being right across the street from one of the largest cancer treatment centers in the world, there are so many opportunities for us to make a difference in the lives of families affected by cancer," Lawhon, a Jones College sophomore, said. 

Wiess College sophomore James McCreary said he agrees with Camp Kesem's mission to address the specific needs the children of cancer patients have.

"Cancer can be one of the most devastating things that anyone can face, and that is no less true than for children whose most beloved individuals are facing it," McCreary said.

The two-part counselor applications can be found at campkesem.org/rice/join-the-team and are due Jan. 18.

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