Key Club continues tradition at Camp Sunshine

[Editor’s Note: This story was written by Samantha Bumpus, a student in John Flynn’s journalism class at Wareham High School.]

Despite facing life threatening illnesses, children and their families attending Camp Sunshine have the opportunity to experience comfort and make happy memories.

Every year, Wareham High School's Key Club brings a select few to volunteer at this camp. At this camp there are many families with multiple children. These families each have at least one child suffering from a sickness.

Surrounded by friends and family, at Camp Sunshine, families and volunteers learn new skills. Here, these families can participate in a variety of fun activities in this safe environment for their children and themselves.

Camp Sunshine is located in Casco, Maine. This is directly near the shore of Lake Sebago, as well as Shawnee Peak Ski Resort.

On their website, Camp Sunshine themselves speak of their mission.

“For 40 years, Camp Sunshine has provided hope, joy and community through unique experiences for children with life-threatening illnesses and their families,” The website states. “More than 60,000 children, siblings, parents and caregivers from all 50 states and 27 countries have come together for fun-filled, year-round sessions with families just like theirs. Camp Sunshine is where families find family.”

This camp has both summer and winter activities. During the summer programs, the families partake in boating, swimming, kayaking, a climbing wall, archery, a ropes course and more. Winter activities at Camp Sunshine include skating, skiing, sledding, a horse drawn carriage and dog sleds. In the evening there are movies and even talent shows that take place.

From Feb. 17 to 21, during school vacation, Matthew Stanton is taking a small group of students who meet the age requirement from Wareham’s Key Club to volunteer there.

“We have been going there since 2015, at least once per year, some years two times, except during COVID and we do it during school vacations,” said Stanton, JROTC teacher for the high school.

This camp focuses on not only the children suffering with life-threatening illnesses, but the entire family as well.

“Mostly, I just want our students to have fun, be a kid and enjoy the time with each other and with the campers. I've found the happier and more fun our Key Clubbers have at Camp Sunshine, the better the experience for the campers,” Stanton said. “I also think the students leave the camp with a deeper understanding of the tremendous obstacles that so many families have to overcome in life, and they leave with a great appreciation for life. They also leave with a sense of accomplishment by placing others' needs before their own.”

Wareham High Key Club has an excellent reputation at Camp Sunshine. So many students have volunteered there over the years and they have made a difference in so many lives.

“Past students have told me that this experience has impacted them profoundly, in some cases, inspiring them to get a degree and work in this career field. In other cases, they have written their college essay on their experience, and have also deepened their friendship with their Wareham High classmates away from home living in the same dorm,” Stanton said. “They've told me that it has helped them appreciate life more.”

Former Camp Sunshine volunteer and Wareham High School alumna Jordan Bumpus said, “I attended Camp Sunshine the summer of the year 2018. I took the kids out paddle boarding, brought them to the playground, played camp games with them and we did science experiments. It was so much fun and the kids were so happy. If I ever got the chance to go again, I would!”

The families and interns themselves that have attended Camp Sunshine are so appreciative of everything that this camp offers. Attending this camp is life affirming for all involved.