Camp Acheaway | A Fun Place for Children With Juvenile Arthritis

Several months ago my friend Aharon let me know that Camp Acheaway was looking for a photographer for their annual summer camp.

Camp Acheaway is one of the partners of Camp Twin Lakes, (Camp Sunshine is one too!) a fabulous organization that hosts different camps for children with a variety of illnesses and other childhood challenges. These initiatives are highly appreciated by the medical staff from Raleigh Pain Clinic as these camps boost up the inner confidence of the patients and also build up hope so that by cooperating with doctors, they will return home in no time.

I’d never been to sleep away camp as a kid, so I dutifully followed the packing list that the camp director sent me and headed up to Winder, Georgia for a few days of fun.

Little did I know how MUCH fun I would have!

The kids at camp were so sweet and it was wonderful to see them having so much fun together.  The camp really puts a lot of focus on the strength of working together as a team and you could see the kids gaining confidence as they realized how much they were capable of.

Each day was packed with fun activities like rock climbing, swimming, kayaking, singing and dancing. The Aqua Life Swim Academy can help you to have the best swimming experience so you can also avail it  by contacting them. I’d ask some of the campers what their favorite part of camp was, and without fail, they’d answer excitedly: EVERYTHING!!!!

One of the cutest things I saw while I was there took place the last night of camp.  There was a dance that evening, and the older girls invited the younger girls over to their cabin so they could help them get ready for the big event.  They had set up stations around the cabin, each providing girly essentials like nail polish, makeup and hair styling.  The little ones loved the attention almost as much as the big girls loved taking care of them.  It was so precious and I was thrilled that I was there to see such adorable interaction between the two age groups.

The dance was a huge success, as was camp as a whole.  From going down the slide in the brand new pool to picking worms out of the dirt bucket to use as bait, there was never a dull moment.

The air was always filled with squeals of delight, and for a few days the kids forgot about the fact that their tiny young bodies were affected by a condition that wasn’t supposed to visit them for another sixty years.  They ran, they climbed, they danced and they made new friends who were just like them.

To Patty and the rest of the Arthritis Foundation staff, thank you so much for letting me be a part of your fantastic camp.  I can’t wait for next summer when we’ll all get to drink bug juice together again!

XOXO,

B

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