Hey y’all, it’s time for my annual birthday fundraiser for Camp CARE, a nonprofit children’s oncology camp very dear to me and many others.
Can you believe that for 19 years I’ve been flying out to Lake Lure, NC every summer to play for Camp CARE?? 19 years!! I was in my 30’s when I started, my kids were in elementary school, I still had brown hair (and a soul patch – ugh!) and I didn’t even wear glasses yet.
For 19 years I’ve been asking for donations too. If you are fortunate enough to be able to give anything right now I want to tell you this is an organization that could use the funds and can do the most amazing things with it.
They provide a week of camp totally for free for families that are some of the most deserving you’ll ever see. Not only are they facing the diagnosis and treatment for their child with cancer, most of them are experiencing financial uncertainty or ruin because of overwhelming medical expenses and specialized care. Often times they’ve lost their home and life savings, and are working 2-3 jobs to make ends meet.
This camp is highly specialized for these kids too. We’ve got oncology doctors, nurses and therapists staying with us all week ensuring that these kids are completely safe and are able to join in all the camp activities they want to – water skiing, zip line, climbing wall, all the cool stuff!
One of my favorite memories was a group of us taking a teen-ager who was confined to a wheelchair out on a night zip lining trip. It was a ton of work getting this child harnessed in and safely ready to zip. But in the end watching her sail across the timber line of the Great Smoky Mountains in the moonlight was the thrill of a lifetime for all of us!
Full disclosure, while this camp is largely staffed by volunteers (most of them former campers), they have an extremely small staff that is actually paid, and I am also paid to be there – mostly to cover my travel costs, airfare and the 10 days I have to take off of my usual work/performances to be there.
I know a lot of you have given just about every year that I’ve held my fundraiser and I love you so much. It means the world to me. And to know that you would be this generous to a group of kids and families that you will most likely never meet really really blows me away and speaks to the depth of your hearts. That’s the part that absolutely gets me every time.
On behalf of the thousands of children, families, volunteers, doctors, therapists, and specialists that make up our Camp CARE family I thank you from the bottom of my heart. And I promise to post lots of pics and videos from camp this August!
– Brad Thompson (a.k.a. “Hot Rod” – that’s my camp nickname)
