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Your gift of $500 can sponsor an HIV-positive child
at Camp Hope for an entire week.
For as little as $10, you can provide
arts and crafts supplies for a child while at camp.
Give now.
Read about some of our Camp Hope Children
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Dominic conquers the Rock Wall...
only to face another of his greatest fears when he reaches the top!
Read about it here.
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Kametra dreams of being a singer when she grows up. Imagine how thrilled she was to perform in front of an audience for the first time during Camp Hope Karaoke Night!
Read more...
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Rachel was terrified of the water. Camp Hope gives HIV+ kids opportunities they've never even dreamed possible.
Read more about Rachel.
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Derrick recently learned that he is
HIV-positive. At 8 years old, that's a lot to handle, but Camp Hope gave him the strength and tools necessary to handle it. Read his story. |
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Stories from our Camp Hope Children |
Dominic
Dominic conquers the Rock Wall...only to face another of his greatest fears when he reaches the top! |
I'm 14 and my name is Dominic. Camp Hope is my favorite thing to do the whole year. I get to see my camp friends again, and there's all sorts of great stuff to do...like the ROPES course. Though if you asked me before, I would have told you that I hated it the most! I HATED the Rock Wall and wouldn't go near it. This year, I told myself I was just going to do it. When my cabin's day came to do the Rock Wall, I got real quiet. I felt kind of excited, but more like I was going to throw up. I did NOT want to climb up that high. I HATE heights.
I remember standing at the bottom and staring up at the top. The wall must be like 10 stories high. But I tried not to think about it as they strapped me into the harness. All of my friends were yelling and cheering for me. I started going up. Except for how tired it made my arms, it wasn't so bad! But I didn't look down at all.
Finally I got to the top!!! Everyone was cheering and yelling my name. I was so proud ! The guy at the top asked me if I was ready for the zip line. Zip line? I had never thought about it, but the only way to get down the wall was to go down this cable from the top of the wall to the ground! I got all harnessed up (again) and closed my eyes and just went. It was so much fun!!! I went so fast and was down with my friends again before I knew it. I wanted to do it again so bad! I can't believe that I climbed the wall this year, and then I REALLY can't believe that I zipped down the other side! My friends all hugged me and cheered again. Guess I'm not afraid of heights anymore! Thanks Camp Hope!
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Kametra
Kametra dreams of being a singer when she grows up. Imagine how thrilled (and scared!) she was to perform in front of an audience for the first time during Camp Hope Karaoke Night! |
Since I was 2 years old, I've always wanted to be a singer. I would sing and dance to all of my mom's music and would practice performing on "stage" in front of our fireplace. Sometimes we go to family reunions. My mom always tried to get me to sing for my grandparents and aunts and uncles and cousins. I always said "No way!!" I wasn't going to sing in front of a crowd - I just liked pretending all by myself at home.
I've been going to Camp Hope since I was 7. I'm 12 now. Every year our cabin performs a song or dance for the talent show and for the other campers. I always stood in the back. But this year, all my friends pushed me to perform at Karaoke Night. I figured that if I was going to be a singer one day, I better start singing to people! So I did it. I sang "I am Beautiful" by Christina Aguilera. I messed up once, but nobody even noticed!!! They all stood up at the end and clapped and clapped! I've never been so happy.
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Rachel
Rachel was terrified of the water.
Camp Hope gives HIV+ kids opportunities they've never even dreamed possible!
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I'm 8 and this was my first year at Camp Hope. My favorite part is going swimming, which is really crazy because before I was scared of the water. All the girls in my cabin were going swimming, and I didn't want to be left out. I also didn't want anybody to know that I was scared. But my counselor could tell. Miss Ally came up to me and asked if I had ever been swimming before. When I shook my head no, she gave me a big hug and said, "Let's go in the pool together." I thought she was crazy. No way was I going into the water. But she just went up to her ankles in water on the step. I decided I'd try it. It wasn't so bad. The next day we had swimming, she said she wanted to show me something. She brought back noodles and held on to them tight as she got into the water. She was floating!! She asked me if I wanted to try. I held on to the noodles SO TIGHT...and as soon as I knew it, I was in the middle of the pool!!!
That was last year, now I can swim underwater without any problem at all. It is so much fun. I will never forget that Miss Ally taught me not to be afraid.
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Derrick
Derrick recently learned that he was HIV-positive. At 10 years old, that's a lot to handle, but Camp Hope gave him the strength and tools necessary to handle it. |
I been coming to Camp Hope for 3 years now. I'm 10 now. I always wondered why I was so short and couldn't move as good as the rest of the kids in my class. I loved going to Camp Hope because nobody cared and other kids were just like me. They also had to take a lot of medicine just like me.
This year, before school was out, I got really sick and my legs stopped working right. They got real skinny. I had to go to the hospital again and this time they put me in a wheelchair. The doctor explained that I was HIV-positive, which meant that I could get sick real easily and my body had to work harder at keeping me well. She explained that the medicine helped, but sometimes it could cause me to have to be in a wheelchair. My mom was crying.
I went to Camp that summer in my wheelchair. It wasn't such a big deal. One of the leaders knew that I had just found out why I was so sick. She talked to me for a long time and gave me some good words to tell people about why I'm in a wheelchair and stuff. I feel a lot better about going back to school. And I can't wait to come back to Camp Hope next year.
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