Carole Yu discovered Camp Kesem, a complimentary summer camp for the children of cancer patients, while her husband was seeking treatment for a rare form of nonsmoker’s lung cancer at the UCLA Medical Center.
“I was thinking, “˜How will I support (my children) through this?’ We didn’t really know anyone with cancer,” Yu said. Her children, Elena and Dara, were then 9 and 3 years old.
Camp Kesem at UCLA is a weeklong summer sleepaway camp that provides the quintessential camp experience to children whose parents have cancer.
The camp also allows the children to share their experiences with others who understand the challenges they face, said Alli Haupt, a fourth-year psychobiology student and Camp Kesem UCLA member.
“Camp Kesem made me realize that there are a lot of people out there that care,” Yu said. “Counselors at the camp provided the kids with direction, energy and love.”
Yu and her daughters were asked to speak Monday at the second annual celebrity charity golf tournament at MountainGate Country Club. The fundraiser was staffed by members of Camp Kesem at UCLA.
Former Sacramento Kings point guard Bobby Jackson attended the tournament along with actors Ryan McPartlin of “Chuck,” Sam Page of “Mad Men” and Fox NFL Sunday host Curt Menefee.
Each golfer had to pay a flat fee to play, and the best scoring teams won cash prizes. Raffle tickets for a variety of prizes were also on sale for $5 each.
The fundraising activity culminated in the much anticipated ball drop, in which labeled golf balls were dropped from a helicopter hovering above a hole and the owner of the ball closest to the hole won a new BlackBerry Torch.
The event’s MC, “High School Musical” star Corbin Bleu, said he is impressed by the willingness of young adults to create charity organizations like Camp Kesem.
“The fact that the organization is fueled by college students is, to me, the most incredible part,” he said.
Camp Kesem is in its 11th year nationally and its seventh year at UCLA. The university is one of 25 college campuses across the country that host Camp Kesem every summer. Ten percent of the tournament’s proceeds will go to the camp’s UCLA branch for the volunteers they provided, Haupt said.
Elena, now 16, started at Kesem in 2004 during UCLA’s first year as a host campus and returned for the next five summers.
“As I kept going back, I discovered that it wasn’t just about talking about your tough times at home, but about finding friends who you could connect with,” Elena said. “It’s been in my life for so long. I look forward to it every year.”
Elena, or “107” as she is known at camp, has completed Kesem twice ““ once after her first three years, and again after participating in the teen camp.
“A year after I graduated for the first time, my dad passed away the day we got back from camp,” she said. “My counselor sat with me as my mom told my sister and I that our dad was going to die soon. My counselors were even at my dad’s memorial.”
Camp Kesem functions very much like a normal sleepaway camp but has one extra component. In the evenings, counselors facilitate Cabin Chat, in which campers of the same age group and gender gather to talk.
“We ask open-ended questions, such as, “˜If you had three wishes what would you wish for?'” said Neri Gallegos, a fourth-year psychobiology student and Kesem counselor.
Elena said Cabin Chat helped her more effectively deal with what was happening to her father.
Yu credits Camp Kesem with helping Elena grow as a leader. Now, Elena has created and organized a counselor-in-training program for Kesem.
“Honestly, I just wanted to come back, that’s the real reason. The excuse is the counselor-in-training program,” Elena said, smiling. “It is a leadership program too to teach teens how to be camp counselors so that the organization can grow.”