From Our CEO: A new home for Sunrise

​Summer is right around the corner, and we want to share some great news about Lucille & Jay Chazanoff Sunrise Day Camp-Staten Island, a free camp for children with cancer and their siblings.
 
After a virtual camp experience last summer, we are happy to announce that Sunrise will resume in-person camp on July 1st. We are also excited to announce that we have found a new home for Sunrise on the campus of Staten Island Academy.
 
Staten Island Academy boasts a 12-acre campus, offering ample space for Sunrise campers to take part in activities both indoors and outdoors. In addition to previous summers’ activities, campers will also now have access to two swimming pools and larger field space. To ensure the health and safety of all its campers, Sunrise will have exclusive use of their own program areas separate from the Staten Island Academy’s summer programs.
 
Unfortunately, over the past year, we have all experienced firsthand what it feels like for a family of a child with cancer. The fear and uncertainty that we have been feeling is what our campers and their families have felt every day since their diagnoses. That’s why we’re thrilled to be able to bring back a safe, in-person experience for these children to allow them to socialize and enjoy themselves. Sunrise Day Camp brings back the joys of childhood to children struggling with cancer, transforming months of loneliness and isolation into summers filled with friendship, laughter, and happiness.
 
Sunrise will operate this summer from July 1 - August 5, with enhanced safety protocols in place to minimize the potential of any COVID-19 transmission at camp. A virtual camp option will also be available for those families who may prefer or need distance-camping.
 
Recognizing the extraordinary financial demands that a child’s chronic illness can have on a family, Sunrise Day Camp and its year-round and in-hospital programs, Sunrise Sundays and Sunrise on Wheels, are provided completely free of charge to campers’ families. Sunrise Day Camp-Staten Island proudly serves children with cancer and their siblings from Staten Island, Manhattan, Brooklyn, and nearby New Jersey on a non-sectarian basis. We are a proud member of the Sunrise Association, whose mission is to bring back the joys of childhood to children with cancer and their siblings worldwide.
 
Funds for Sunrise Day Camp-Staten Island are raised through donations and community events, including our annual SunriseWALKS in June. We hope you will join us for this year’s event, SunriseWALKS YOUR WAY, which will take place on Sunday, June 27th. You can participate in the walk from anywhere that is fun, meaningful, and safe! You can learn more and register here.
 
We are eagerly counting down the days until summer is here, and we can’t wait for our Sunrise campers to get to explore their new summer home!

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