I recently received a note from Lucy Goodman, a former student in my class on the Humanities of Islam. Still a university student, she is also currently the Operations Coordinator for Camp Kesem in Utah Valley, which she explains below. I post this selection from her note with her permission:
Outside of school, I am also a volunteer with Camp Kesem in Utah Valley. Since 2008, we have been hosting a free summer camp for children affected by a parent’s cancer.
My Camp Kesem story began in 2011, shortly after my mom’s second breast cancer diagnosis. I started attending as a camper, and was introduced to some of my closest friends. These friends were a great support through my mom’s cancer, and when she passed away in 2014. Since I started here at BYU in fall 2018, I have been volunteering as a counselor to help provide the camp that gave me so much to kids all over Utah Valley.
In order to provide camp free of cost to over 250 campers this summer, we have a chapter goal to raise over $100,000 for this camp season. This money goes 100% to putting on camp — renting a campsite, feeding all campers and staff, hiring lifeguards and nurses, and providing activities to help the campers get their childhood back.
On March 20th, we will be hosting a Make the Magic gala to raise over $10,000 for Camp Kesem in Utah Valley. Our coordination board has been working hard over the past few months in order to make this a success. We will be having an Italian soda bar, a catered dinner, a silent auction, and a chance to hear from some of our Kesem alumni. We are so excited for this event and the only thing we have left to do is to sell tickets!
If you are available, I would love for you to attend Make the Magic and support Camp Kesem in Utah Valley! Tickets are available at this link: https://donate.kesem.org/event/camp-kesem-in-utah-valley-make-the-magic-fy-2020/e269537 . Also, here is a link to our website if you would like to know more about what we do: https://www.campkesem.org/find-a-camp/camp-kesem-in-utah-valley
Thank you so much and let me know if you have any questions about Make the Magic or Camp Kesem!
Camp Kesem seems a very worthy cause — many of us know children who have lost mothers to cancer, and we know something of the terrible toll that the disease takes on families — and I’m happy to pass this along. If you feel similarly inclined, please do so yourself.
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