5TH ANNUAL FAMILY CAMP SPONSOR-A-STAFF-MEMBER CAMPAIGN

Summer is here, and that means we are busy planning for our 5th annual Milton Marks Family Camp in September! Each year since 2014, we've been able to give families coping with a parent's brain cancer what we would like them to have all year: a place where they feel taken care of and deeply understood, a place to share meaningful time with their kids and each other, and a true community with others. Over the years, camp has become even more -- it's a magical, joyful time for all of us (staff very much included), filled with art, play, camp songs and love. At camp, we see patients, caregivers, and kids slowly begin to let the walls come down, and let the love come in. Relationships made at camp extend throughout the year, with conversations between families, a yearly spring reunion, outreach to struggling families, and home visits to kids from youth counselors. As the camp is a collaboration with the neuro-oncology staff at UCSF, patients, caregivers and kids get to spend relaxed time with their medical providers at camp, and those relationships deepen as well.

Families now tell us Milton Marks Family Camp feels like a year-round community for them, a community of people going through the cancer journey together. In a follow-up survey, patients, caregivers and kids report that camp has led to lasting connections with others, made them feel less alone, and feel closer to their medical providers. As our camp site at Camp Newman burned down last year in the Santa Rosa fires, we're creating a new home at Walker Creek Camp in West Marin. We have a record-breaking 16 families coming this year!  With the site change and increased number of families we're surving, and other changes, we have set a goal of raising an additional $40,000 this year.

Camp staff have started a crowdfunding effort to invite their friends and family to support the amazing work they do to make this magical experience happen for families who so desperately need it. We encourage you to learn more about why our staff is so dedicated to camp, and about exactly what they do to bring community and joy to families coping with a parent's brain tumor. To learn more about our camp, please check out our website at http://www.miltonmarksfamilycamp.org