Finding Community at Camp All-Stars

For young people living with kidney conditions, daily demands of medications and procedures can lead to feelings of isolation. Each spring, Camp All Stars offers these patients a welcome reprieve: an opportunity for connection.

The two-day overnight camp at the YMCA’s Camp Letts near Annapolis is free for Children’s Center nephrology patients ages 10 to 21, with activities such as archery, horseback riding and scavenger hunts. Volunteer nurses, doctors and staff from Johns Hopkins are on site all weekend to ensure the campers receive their medications and any other medical treatments as needed. Many kids have so much fun they return years later to serve as counselors.

Out of This World!

Camp Sunrise at Johns Hopkins Hospital brings summer camp excitement to patients, their families, and staff members at the Pediatric Oncology and Hematology department of the Johns Hopkins Children’s Center. 

During last summer’s week-long day camp, held in the Great Room of the Children’s Center, campers enjoyed an “Interstellar” theme, with space-themed crafts and games like UFO frisbee toss.

Patients and their families also had fun getting personalized caricature drawings and taking photos in a space-themed photo booth. There was even a galaxy light space tent and a pop-up rocket ship.

A Charmed Experience

Kids dancing at Camp Charm City

Each summer, Camp Charm City gives kids living with type 1 diabetes a fun, safe and supportive summer camp experience. The five-day camp, held on the Johns Hopkins University campus, was launched in 2019 and is aimed at serving young patients in the local community.

A full medical staff from the Children’s Center is on-site, led by medical directors Kristin Arcara and Risa Wolfe, as campers participate in sports, rock climbing, arts and crafts, games and other activities that help them learn to thrive while managing their diabetes.

Learn more about Camp Charm City

Their Heart’s in the Right Place

When parents have a child with a heart condition, the thought of sleepaway summer camp can be nerve-wracking. Enter the Brainy Ridge Heart Camp in St. George, Va., which is staffed by medical experts — including Children’s Center physicians, nurses and staffers, who volunteer their time.

During the seven-day camp, kids enjoy outdoor fun, creative arts and educational sessions aimed at enhancing their knowledge and understanding of their cardiac conditions — all in a safe, supervised environment.

To help send a child to camp, contact Allie Boge