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Childhood Without Limits
Each year, children with chronic and life-threatening skin diseases from around the country take a break from being a patient for a week and focus on just being a kid. Camp Wonder® is a special place free of judgement and stares! We create an environment of acceptance and support to empower the children to be themselves.
Beneath the Layers
Too often children with skin disease live a buried life – either by clothes or under bandages to hide their fragile medical conditions. Their life is full of pain and misunderstandings that surrounds their skin disease. But for one week, they can forget about being a patient. Forget about the staring. Forget about being so different from their peers. At Camp Wonder®, they are part of the crowd. They all have the same stories about being bullied because they look different, and it's that emotional pain we treat more than anything. Beneath all the layers, they are still just kids who want to experience life without feeling isolated – and at Camp Wonder®, that is what we give them: childhood without limits.
It’s not about being different, it’s about being together.
Camp Wonder® provides a safe, nurturing environment filled with positive energy and acceptance so our campers can be comfortable in their skin, rather than singled out for being different. We give them the opportunity to play sports, go swimming, climb a rock wall, do arts and crafts, go to the "prom" - activities these kids would otherwise never get to experience because skin diseases cause discomfort, disfigurement, disability, and shame. We give them a week of wonder to empower them to believe that their disease does not define them.
Since we recognize that these families already take responsibility for most of the financial burden for medical treatment, Camp Wonder® is free to campers and their families. We cover all costs, including round-trip transportation. Camp Wonder® is able to offer this thanks to our generous supporters!
If you are a parent, camper, medical volunteer or counselor volunteer interested in coming to camp, please see our FAQs page for more information or our referral page to get on the application list for the next camp.
Education
For 20 years, Camp Wonder® has been proud to partner with various dermatology hospitals to welcome dermatology and pediatric residents, and medical and nursing students. During the week of camp, these volunteers gain a better understanding of how skin disease impacts patients. CSDF covers all costs for our medial staf, essentially creating dermatology scholarships, for our future caregivers.
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