Teachers pay to wear jeans on Fridays, proceeds go to a camp for children affected by cancer
Something as simple as having teachers pay to wear jeans on Fridays can lead to greater things. Just ask Donna Sanfilippo and Dr. Jill DelConte of Radix Elementary School, who raised money via a casual Friday to donate to Camp No Worries, a summer camp for children with cancer. Siblings of those diagnosed with cancer are welcome to attend as well as bereaved siblings.
Sanfilippo found out about the camp when she and some parents from Radix were volunteering at the Annual Beach Sweeps in Brigantine. There she met a man who told her about Camp No Worries, a camp he’s supported for almost 20 years.
“After he mentioned the camp to me, I went online and read up on the camp,” Sanfilippo said. “I asked Dr. DelConte if we could somehow support Camp No Worries.”
She added it was DelConte’s idea to offer jeans days to raise money.
The Radix teachers came up with $250 to donate to Camp No Worries. On May 29, Sanfilippo and DelConte presented two members of the camp’s board of trustees, Jack and Pam Hall, with the money.
Jack and Pam Hall sit on the board of trustees as the vice president and secretary respectively, but they are actually the masterminds behind Camp No Worries. The two started the camp back in 1995 but the concept dates back to 1986 when their daughter, Kasey Massa, formerly Hall, was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor. She had successful surgery to have it removed
“Kasey spent the entire summer being told by doctors and other professionals that she couldn’t do this, she couldn’t do that, it made for a long summer,” Jack said. “While she was a freshman at West Virginia University, she called home and said when she comes home for the summer she wants to start a place where kids [with cancer] can just be kids and go to camp.”
Jack mentioned they had a partnership with Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia when they started the camp in 1995. It was five days, four nights with 14 kids in attendance. The following year, attendance jumped to 72 kids. Now the camp has an average attendance of 100 kids.
Camp No Worries is held on the last weekend in June every year at Camp Inawendiwin in Tabernacle. The campers range in age from 6 to 16, just like a “normal camp.”
Pam described the activities the camp offers: “They do everything a traditional camp does: arts and crafts, nature walks, swimming, boating, archery and ziplining.”
She added there are different night activities, like bands playing and DJs having dance parties. There is a theme every year for the campers. This year it’s “around the world.”
The camp has been running for 24 years and donations are paramount to its success.
“It’s donations like this that have kept us going for years,” Jack said of the Radix donation. The cost of attendance is roughly $1,500 per child, but it’s free to children to attend.
For more information, visit www.campnoworries.org.
