CAMP RAINBOW GOLD INC

Our goal is to celebrate life! While cancer is the thread that ties us together, it does not define us. These children are so much more than their diagnoses. We strive to offer children a chance to experience the magic of summer camp in a safe, loving, supportive and welcoming environment. Our goal is to support all our campers as they grow, learn and dream of the future. We want them to know their worth and strive to be good students, productive community members and focus on achieving any of their future dreams.

The American Camp Association conducted a five-year study of summer camps which has shown that children who attend summer camp report relationship skills, appreciation for others’ differences, emotional regulation, and responsibility were among the things they learned at camp that they consider most important in their lives today. ACA campers say that camp helped prepare them for school and the workplace and provided them opportunities to be present in the moment and to explore one’s identity. Our camp aims to instill these skills in all our campers.

Our strategies to reach our overall goals focus largely on the camp experience. We provide campers with a well-trained staff and a safe camping environment at no financial cost to their families. Campers are supervised according to the appropriate camper to staff ratios and all of Camp Rainbow Gold camps for children with an oncology diagnosis are monitored by at least one oncology nurse, complemented by a team of three additional nurses and an oncology physician available 24 hours a day.

To offer campers a wide variety of new and fun experiences with an emphasis on building life skills through activities that promote team building, we offer at least 15 different activities at camp each year and encourage campers to participate in at least one activity that is new to them. We also encourage each child to develop a self-sufficient attitude and self-esteem through promoting shared work of all cabin clean-ups and cabin duties, encouraging campers to choose appropriate outfits and take responsibility for their own hygiene and medication schedules while at camp.

Our camps give children with cancer the opportunity to make friends with others who understand their situation, the chance to learn from others who share similar health experiences, thereby coming to understand ways to cope with their difficulties and/or limitations. We seek to serve campers who are at varying lengths of time out of treatment and encourage campers to make new friends and connections each year at camp.

We provide assurance to parents of campers that their children are in a safe, secure program by giving them all necessary information and support. Families receive regular updates about Camp Rainbow Gold programs and activities, providing camp packets and camp information prior to camp including written documentation regarding camp accreditation and association, information on staff training, medical staff provided and program activities.

Moreover, we have developed a year-round support network for all Camp Rainbow Gold participants that enable emotional and social support with other families and children who have been diagnosed with cancer.

Camp Rainbow Gold was founded in 1984. For more than 35 years, we have been serving the Idaho community and are dedicated to providing programs for children diagnosed with cancer. Over the years, our programs have grown and adjusted to meet the needs of our community. What was once a one-week camp for children diagnosed with cancer has grown into two oncology camps, a sibling camp, two family retreats, a year-round teen support group, a college scholarship program and year-round family events.

Camp Rainbow Gold was a program with the American Cancer Society through 2013 when we became an independent nonprofit organization. We have been supported by St. Lukes Health System since our inception with St. Lukes medical staff attending all camps and St. Lukes employees sitting on our board of directors.

Camp Rainbow Gold is a member of the Children’s Oncology Camp Association and has been accredited by the American Camp Association since 2002.

Camp Rainbow Gold is an independent nonprofit organization made up of a large network of generous, loving people who are devoted to providing emotionally empowering experiences to families dealing with a pediatric cancer diagnosis. What started as a week of camp for a handful of children diagnosed with cancer has grown into much more. Camp Rainbow Gold has expanded over the years to offer two oncology camps, sibling camps and family retreats. Other programs include college scholarships and a teen support group. Our programs are sustained by community fundraising, private donations and volunteer efforts. Camp Rainbow Gold is supported by more than 300 volunteers from across the nation and has been accredited through the American Camp Association since 2002.

Now, we are looking to the future. In April 2019, Camp Rainbow Gold purchased property in Fairfield, Idaho to build Idaho’s first medical camp. Our campers have lives that are always in flux. With a permanent home for camp, we can provide a stable base for activities and learning experiences. With 172 acres, we can expand—more bunkhouses, more activities, more grounds to explore. We aim to build a home that can welcome generation after generation of Idaho children and their families.

With proper facilities and year-round access, we can not only create a permanent home for ourselves, we can secure our future by opening this home to like-minded organizations. Our vision is to create and maintain an Idaho medical camp, a welcoming space designed specifically for guests with medical needs to securely connect with nature and each other.

Our state is growing, and Camp Rainbow Gold—and other organizations like ours—will need to grow with it. As the Gem State’s only purpose-built medical camp, we’ll be able to serve our Camp Rainbow Gold community while providing the space and safety other organizations need to bring their unique visions to life.