Kathryn Cross Photo
At the age of 8, Jordan Mann was diagnosed with Ewing’s sarcoma and began attending Camp Rising Sun, a pediatric cancer camp in Colebrook. Melissa Pandolfi was an Ewing’s sarcoma survivor and a counselor at the time.
About two weeks ago, Pandolfi and Mann reunited (pictured above) at Camp Rising Sun’s most recent fundraiser, the Annual Night Out at Branford’s Owenego Inn and Beach Club.
He quickly jumped for a big hug, and they posed for a photo. She was delighted to see him. For them it was old home week, old friends reuniting. They first met at Camp Rising Sun in 2000. They are now cancer free. In August they will return to camp for one week as counselors with this year’s group of kids.
“My favorite experience is seeing all these campers come back every year,” Pandolfi said. “To see these children grow into strong, courageous children is amazing.”
Mann, now an account executive at the Richard W. Squeri insurance agency in Branford, will return to Camp Rising Sun for the one-week camp session which begins Aug. 17. So will Pandolfi who works as a corporate archivist and manager at the Estee Lauder cosmetic company in New York City.
“I would say that two-thirds of our staff are former campers and want to give back as counselors,” Camp Rising Sun Co-Director Mike Donahue said. “It’s based on their counselors and the dedication that was devoted to them as campers.”
Nearly every member of Camp Rising Sun and their friends and family came together on July 16 at the Owenego to participate in silent auctions, face paintings and a buffet dinner. They were united as well in financially supporting Camp Rising Sun. (Here’s a painting from “Cabin 1.”)
Funding Cut
This past year, the American Cancer Society cut all funding for pediatric cancer camps in order to focus more on eliminating cancer as a national health concern. This closed numerous places of fun and friendship for kids with cancer and caused larger camps, like Camp Rising Sun to have to find alternative funds.
“We were lucky enough to have our own foundation and background for thirty years, but other camps in Rhode Island and other areas had to close,” Pandolfi said.
In order to make up for lost campsites, Camp Rising Sun will be taking in all the campers and counselors from Camp Hope, the closed cancer camp in North Scituate, R.I.
“Now, the camp can be bigger and better with all the new campers and counselors,” Pandolfi added.
In order to cope with so many financial losses and Camp Hope’s camper’s transportation, the Annual Night Out had hopes of being able to meet a $100,000 dollar challenge in ticket sales prior to the day of the event. For every dollar that they made, another dollar would be matched by a generous donor, Camp Director and Asst. Chief / Fire Marshal Shaun Heffernan said.
During the Annual Night Out, Heffernan announced that they had indeed met their $100,000 challenge and were able to match each dollar in coordination with their donor. The challenge came from The Yvette and Arthur Eder Foundation whose names were announced on the camp’s website after the event. The foundation offered to match every donation made to Camp Rising Sun between June 1 and July 15. In this video Heffernan reflects on the need to help Camp Hope.
From the band to the silent auction materials and even to the Owenego venue, everything that was used throughout the Annual Night Out was donated. So, Camp Rising Sun has $200,000 to donate towards this year’s campers and to making the most memorable and fun week for them, Heffernan said.
“We have lots more fun at camp week than you’d expect because you expect fun, but we had hide and seek for like ever and we talked to boys sort of,” melanoma survivor and Camp Rising Sun camper, Mia Zito said.
The counselors are fun and going horseback riding was especially spectacular, the 11-year-old said.
Camp Rising Sun also leaves memories within the hearts of their staff.
“There are so many memories,” Saunders reflected. “They all involve a reaction of a child when they do something they didn’t think they could do. Once, I had a camper sing ‘The Hero Inside You’ in a talent show. He practiced it and he was so nervous and he said, ‘That’s the song I always sing to myself when I’m getting chemotherapy, so I believe in myself.’ I just thought that was really touching.”
“It’s hard to pick a favorite memory from when I was a camper — appropriate or inappropriate,” Mann said.
Regarding the Annual Night Out, the band was one of the highlights, Pandolfi said.
“My favorite part about tonight is seeing the Connecticut community and the shoreline community get together and raise funds for Camp Rising Sun to allow children with cancer to attend for free,” Pandolfi said.
“It shows how much backbone our foundation has,” Mann said.
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