Local children host fundraisers for Sunrise Day Camp

Several local children have been giving back to help kids facing illness in their own community by creating fundraisers that benefit the Lucille & Jay Chazanoff Sunrise Day Camp-Staten Island. Sunrise Day Camp, which is operated by the Joan & Alan Bernikow JCC of Staten Island, is a free summer camp for children with cancer and their siblings.
 
Read about the fundraisers below:

• 8-year-old Maddie created “Maddie’s Sweet Treats” and held bake sales throughout the summer in her Rossville community, which raised $381 for Sunrise. She and her family recently presented the donation to the JCC.
• Students and staff at P.S. 35 helped organize a fundraiser in honor of one of their students, who has cancer and attends Sunrise. His classmates rallied around him and raised $400 by selling packs of crayons.
• Sophia, a 4th grader, made and sold rainbow loom bracelets in honor of Pediatric Cancer Awareness Month, which raised $550 for Sunrise.
• The Saint Bart's Buffalos 10u football team in East Brunswick, NJ hosted a special fundraiser in honor of a Sunrise camper, whose brother plays for the team. The players wore gold laces throughout Childhood Cancer Awareness Month and donated $150 to Sunrise to give kids with cancer an amazing summer.

“We are so proud to see these kids giving back to children with cancer and their siblings,” noted JCC CEO Orit Lender. “The pandemic has shown us all a fraction of the loneliness and isolation these children experience due to their illness, reminding us how important Sunrise is to campers and their families. It’s so heartwarming to see other kids resonating with the mission of Sunrise and helping us give summer back to our campers.”
 
Recognizing the extraordinary financial demands that a child’s chronic illness can have on a family, Sunrise Day Camp is 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.
 
Sunrise Day Camp, which resumed in-person camping this summer, brings back the joys of childhood to children with cancer. The Lucille & Jay Chazanoff Sunrise Day Camp-Staten Island is 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.
 
For more information on Sunrise Day Camp, click here.