Camp One Step for kids with cancer finds way around stay-at-home order

Working with children diagnosed with cancer, Camp One Step knows about finding ways around adversity.

So when the COVID-19 pandemic forced its day campers to stay away, Camp One Step brought day camp to the kids.

Camp One Step, which serves about 800 kids annually, is using Zoom to host day camp online, with campers logging in from home to participate in activities.

“Our whole thought was, we had to pivot, and what we had to do in that pivot is to say our kids love coming to camp, and some of the things they tell us is that camp is everything to them,” camp President Jeff Infusino said. “They find their second family. They have that opportunity to forget about what they're going through.”

A cancer diagnosis, Infusino said, often means taking normalcy away from children.

“We don't want COVID to take it away from the kids again,” he said. “Camp is not going to be there physically in this particular program, but we're not going to let COVID not let those kids have a good time and see their group, see their pals and enjoy and smile.”

Saturday morning saw a group of 22 campers ages 5-10 learning improv comedy from Jill Stuck of Storytown Improv in Chicago on Zoom. The children, some of them wearing costumes, went through warmup exercises for facial expressions and pretended to throw items such as a Frisbee or a “crazy cat” through the screen to Stuck and their friends.

Stuck also mimed situations, then had the kids guess what was going on. She reminded them the activities were things the kids could do with their family and friends.

The virtual camps won't go away even when the pandemic does.

“We feel if we are able to do this now, there are more kids that might not be able to get to camp or there may be kids in other states that we don't serve at this particular point that need us at this particular time,” Infusino said.

To donate to Camp One Step go to https://camponestep.org/donateonline/