Lorna Jennings, Carbon County local and member of the Castle Country Quilters Guild, was recently gifted with a trip to Camp Sunshine with her daughter. Jennings’ daughter has a unique form of anemia and was welcomed to the camp with fees waived as the camp supports those with life-threatening illnesses and their families.
The camp, located in Maine, was founded in 1984 and provides retreats that combine respite, recreation and support while also enabling hope and promoting joy. The program is offered year-round and has been designed to serve the entire family. Not only is the retreat free of charge to the families, but it also offers on-site medical and psycho-social support. Families that have experienced the death of a child from a supported illness may also be offered bereavement.
Families and individuals have remarked that Camp Sunshine is special due to focusing on taking care of the whole family, assisting visitors in readying themselves for a challenge, putting smiles on many children’s faces and more.
While visiting the camp, Jennings could not help but notice that there were many beds on the campus that were in need of warm quilts to cover the visitors. Upon returning home, she presented the quilters guild with the idea of creating their own quilts for the camp. This was met with enthusiasm as many brought in their scraps and did small projects to help Jennings complete her donation efforts.
In the end, Jennings and the guild were successful in creating 18 unique, warm and beautiful quilts that will grace the visitors of Camp Sunshine for many years to come.
