Day 203: Raindrops Keep Falling on my Head

Sunday, March 30, 2008 - This weekend we visited The Hole in the Wall Gang camp in rural northeastern Connecticut. The camp was started by Paul Newman almost two decades ago. He envisioned a summer camp where kids with cancer and other life-threatening illnesses could have a great camp experience. According to their website, "children become naturalists and fishermen, athletes and actors, equestrians and hot air balloonists, potters and painters, poets and photographers, swimmers and singers, fly tiers and fly fishermen, outdoor campers and canoe paddlers, clowns and musicians, woodworkers and kite flyers. At stage night, awards night, carnival day, the camp dance, and through 'cabin chats,' and camp songs and celebrations at every meal, campers inspire each other."






The place looks like an old-west assemblage of buildings from Newman's Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid movie, and the camp takes its name from his gang in that show. It was designed by the Dean of Yale University's School of Architecture and won an American Institute of Architects Honor Award (as architects, Chris and I were pretty impressed).

It's a really nice camp, but what makes it work for seriously-sick kids is the 1:2 ratio of staff/counselors to campers. Plus, they have a state of the art clinic (The OK Corral) that is run by Dr. Space, a pediatric oncologist, along with over a dozen medical staff when the campers are there. They even have a round field where a helicopter (or medevac) can land, but I heard that it's been rarely used (and then only by the occasional visiting celebrity).

Our tour guide happened to be the long-time director, and we heard some great stories about the camp. Last year the troupe from Wicked performed and ran some drama workshops with the kids. The cast from High School Musical also performed--it seems the camp has some very good connections! I noticed that they used mostly Newman's Own food products, and the director told us about a time when Paul Newman visited and they had just run out of HIS salad dressing (for the first time ever). At lunch, he picked up the bottle of the Kraft replacement and made a funny face. She said that hasn't ever happened again.

It was a beautiful day (no raindrops on our heads) and Mady thought the place was pretty cool. She's looking forward to spending a week there--if she gets in (there are always more applications than open slots).

Currently, Mady feels pretty good, but she's now back on that steroid chemo that makes her VERY hungry...