Every summer for over 20 years, the Children’s Tumor Foundation has brought 100 NF Heroes together in Salt Lake City, Utah for NF Camp. As we all know this year has been different than any of the years before. In order to ensure the safety of our NF Heroes, their families, and the camp counselors, CTF made the decision to evolve camp into a virtual program, bringing the NF Camp experience into every camper’s home.
Determined to build an impactful program for our campers, we thought long and hard about what makes the NF Camp experience so special, and how we could translate that to a new online experience for this community. Thanks to our dedicated team of NF Mentors, a full week of virtual activities was scheduled for each of the two sessions. Some of the hosted sessions included tie-dye, baking, pet show & tell, making slime, and even a talent show. Campers played online games, participated in resiliencey discussions, NF talks, and interactive conversations on just about any topic our campers could think of! At the end of Week 2, campers were surprised with a very special guest: NF friend and Colorado Rockies player Ian Desmond! Campers were given the opportunity to hang out with Ian, ask him questions and really get to know him. It was a very special experience for all involved.
NF Camper Alana blogged about her week, including many of the fun activities, such as rock painting! The rest of her blog can be viewed here.
Viewing in gallery mode, campers were able to engage with one another as they participated in all the activities.
The view from home during an activity.
Our friend Brandon from Bourbon Charity also joined us with Jenny and NF Hero Camryn!
A heartfelt thank you to our NF Camp Sponsors: AstraZeneca, RBC Foundation, Bourbon Charity, and Bob’s Discount Furniture. The Virtual NF Camp was amazing, with 17 international campers and 100 campers from the USA. Our NF Camp friendships have officially gone global. Post Virtual NF Camp, our NF Heroes are still on Zoom calls together, Facebook groups, and so much more. Given the positive feedback to this year’s virtual NF Camp experience, we will be looking to host more virtual gatherings for teens and young adults throughout the year. We hope you can join us! Please visit ctf.org/camp for the latest updates.
