Established by the Nevada Childhood Cancer Foundation, Camp Cartwheel is a week-long camp at Torino Ranch (just outside of Las Vegas) where kids can go to have a piece of their childhood back. This non-profit organization is run solely by donations and is free for all participants. They participate in activites such as playing at the lake, making crafts, other outdoor activities, and interacting with other children with similar diseases and circumstances. It really is a time for them to leave behind the worries of their every day lives and enjoy being a kid! Garrett Tenney of News 3 attended this camp for a week to experience what the kids experience and to relay his findings to the public. In short, he went to help the world see the goodness coming about from foundations such as "Make a Wish." Tenney feels that if the world is alerted of inspiring events such as Camp Cartwheel, then the people in this world will try harder to accomplish more good, basically stating that the media's effect is huge on our lives. This camp brings in not only the kids with the diseases, but their siblings also. Some of the more common diseases present at camp are cancer, AIDS, sickle cell disease, and hemophiliac. After spending a week at Camp Cartwheel, Tenney realizes that this is a place where everyone feels welcome and everyone feels equal because they're all suffering from something similar. While at camp, the kids build life-long relationships and memories and enjoy the freedom of being a kid again.
I loved this news story! What a great idea--to build a summer camp for kids to get away from their every day worries and let them relax and be a kid. Two things in particular impressed me: 1) It is a completely non-profit organization. The people who run this camp do it out of the goodness of their hearts. After further research I found that many police men, doctors, and nurses volunteer at this camp on their weeks off of work. They absolutely love the kids and the life-changing experience of realizing how precious their lives really are.
2) I love the fact that the camp accommodates not only the children suffering from cancer and other blood diseases, they accommodate their siblings as well. This is so important, because when a child in a family has a disease like one of these, it often takes the parents' focuses away from the other children. Often, the siblings feel left out and neglected. This camp provides a way for all of the family to get away from the disease and to live a normal life for a week. It establishes greater independence and self esteem, and has really been a blessing in many children's lives.
I always love finding out about different non-profit organizations and seeing how much they impact the world and our society--even if it's only a couple people at a time. Chain reactions are not hard to start, and their effect can be amazing. This news story inspires me to be a more conscious individual and to notice the good in the world around me. Maybe I too can become better and help in a cause such as Camp Cartwheel.
Due to the media's influence today, the world is becoming more and more aware of things going on in their own communities, but also blind sighted to one opinion at the same time. This news article is a good example of how the media goes out of its way to find good things and relay and publicize them to the public. Garrett Tenney comments that that's what the media should be doing--highliting the amazing things the world is accomplishing and inspiring others to join in.
