Welcome to the Frequently Asked Questions page for CSDF
regarding Wonder Camp and our organization. Click on the
questions to display the answers. If you don't find a question here your looking forward, please submit your question.

• Donate you Sponsor a Child at Camp Wonder for $750.00 per child
• Donate your frequent flyer air miles to CSDF so campers have transportation to Camp Wonder
• Donate your car. Call 800-320-0476 and say you are donating to Children's Skin Disease Foundation.
• Donate goods or services for Camp Wonder or for our fundraising events
• Make a tax-deductable donation (especially if your company will match your gift)
• Make a corporate or foundation grant Delegate CSDF to receive your United Way contribution
• Recommend Camp Wonder as your company's focus for the year
• Make CSDF or Camp Wonder a business, organization or school project Hold a fundraiser at your home, school, company, or civic organization
• Volunteer (web site, publishing, doctor or nurse at camp, etc.)
• Assist with CSDF fundraising events or distribute CSDF event information Encourage a pharmaceutical or skin care company to support CSDF and Camp Wonder
• Give through a bequest in your will Honor a loved one with a memorial gift

 

Every contribution is appreciated. No donation is too small!

To fund Camp Wonder and medical research, CSDF conducts fundraising events and receives donations from foundations, pharmaceutical companies, skin care companies, and individuals.

Annual fundraising events include a formal dinner and silent auction. See information on upcoming Events for other events as they are planned.

CSDF is also working with skin care and spa trade organizations and hopes to hold a dinner/auction in conjunction with an industry trade show.

CSDF welcomes recommendations and ideas for other events, as well as sponsors and donations for its planned fundraising activities.

 

Wonder Camp is a special summer camp for children with skin disease. CSDF sponsors the only medically staffed camps in the western United States, the Carolinas and Virginia for children with severe chronic and/or fatal skin diseases. CSDF's camps are free to all campers--an important benefit to the families of skin disease children who often struggle with large medical bills.  The camps occur in late June and early July in three locations:

Camp Wonder at Camp Arroyo in Livermore, California (33 miles south east of Oakland Airport) through a grant from the Taylor Family Foundation.

Camp Wonder at The Painted Turtle, a camp in Lake Hughes, California (60 minutes north of Los Angeles) through a grant from The Painted Turtle, a Hole in the Wall Camp co-founded by Paul Newman. The Painted Turtle is for children with skin disease who receive treatment in Southern California.

Victory Junction Gang Camp in Randleman, North Carolina (20 miles south of Greensboro) through a grant from Victory Junction Gang , a Hole in the Wall Camp co-founded by Paul Newman. Victory Junction Gang is for children with skin disease who live in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia.

 

Your contributions to CSDF are tax-deductible. CSDF accepts direct donations or contributions for its fundraising events. Donations can be designated specifically for medical research, public or medical education, or Camp Wonder. Memorial donations are also welcomed.

Every contribution of money and supplies or appreciated. No contribution is too small. Volunteering is another important way to contribute is. For example, teenagers and nurses are needed to assist children and their families.

 

CSDF works with medical academies and societies, as well as other skin disease organizations, to coordinate research efforts and raise public awareness about the need for and the benefits of skin disease research.

CSDF meets with the chairpersons of the Departments of Dermatology at several major universities to discuss the special medical needs of children with skin diseases and to explore ways to meet these needs.

CSDF representatives have testified before the California legislature on topics important to children with serious skin diseases and to highlight patient care and health insurance issues. CSDF also keeps elected State and Federal representatives informed of issues important to children with skin diseases and their families.

 

While CSDF benefits children with skin disease and their families in many ways, others also benefit from its activities. Doctors and nurses gain knowledge, skill, and clinical experience from working at Camp Wonder and participating in other CSDF activities.

Teenagers and volunteers receive many lasting rewards from their contact with these special children.

 

Many skin diseases are caused by a breakdown of the autoimmune system or other mechanisms shared with other diseases. In the fight against autoimmune diseases like AIDS, skin disease research offers a unique opportunity to observe the cellular progression of a disease mechanisms without invading or damaging the body.

 

Serious diseases of the skin affect thousands of American children each year. These diseases cause discomfort, pain, disfigurement, disability, dependency, even death. They affect not only the children, but their entire families.

Even worse, the physical and emotional hurt caused by childhood skin diseases may last a lifetime.

Many skin diseases are caused by a breakdown of the autoimmune system or other mechanisms shared with other diseases. In the fight against autoimmune diseases like AIDS and lupus, skin disease research offers a unique opportunity to observe the cellular progression of the mechanisms of disease without invading or damaging the body.

CSDF founded Camp Wonder, a medically staffed summer camp at which children with serious and fatal skin diseases can forget about their disease and just have fun.

CSDF also organizes social and educational events for children with skin disease and their families. It assists parents by providing support directly and through opportunities for shared learning experiences with other parents whose child is affected by skin disease.

CSDF also assists in providing wheelchairs to children with skin disease.

CSDF hopes to start a program to educate school children about skin disease and the need for sun protection.

CSDF raises money to fund medical research for more effective treatment and possible cures for certain skin diseases affecting children.

 

Children's Skin Disease Foundation (CSDF) is a 501(c)3 non-profit corporation. It was founded by Francesca Tenconi, a California teenager on her 16th birthday. At age 11 Francesca was diagnosed with pemphigus foliaceous, a serious, potentially fatal skin disease. While receiving treatment at several university hospitals, she met other children with skin diseases.

Francesca felt an organization was necessary to focus on the unique problems of children and teenagers who suffer from skin disease and to raise funds to help these children. To support this happening, Francesca told her family and friends to give no gifts for her 16th birthday - just make contributions to start a foundation. Four days after her birthday (May 29, 2000), Children's Skin Disease Foundation was formed.

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