Camp Beyond Our Gates
By Elizabeth McCurry
May 26, 2022
The children we serve at Victory Junction often talk about the magic that happens when they are here. Our campers say that the magic at Camp makes them feel like they can just be a kid. And that is a primary goal for VJ – to give kids a camp experience that they can’t receive at traditional camps because of their complex medical conditions.
With VJ’s REACH program, our staff takes magic from inside Camp and takes it outside the gates. Our REACH team visits children in hospitals and clinics, as well as their families at Ronald McDonald Houses across the Carolinas.
The goal of the REACH program is to relieve some of the stress from hospital visits that children and their families endure during their stays. They accomplish this by creating some Camp fun with stories, books, crafts, puppets, games, and so many more activities. The activities planned are always age-appropriate and tailored specifically for the abilities of the children the team is visiting. The REACH team also ensures that their programs abide by all of the policies of the partner hospitals they visit. Angela Bryan, Casey Roche, and Addi Sherrill make up the core REACH team. These caring individuals help kids just be kids, despite their illness or condition. College interns also help deliver REACH programs, under the careful supervision of the core team.
Since the REACH program’s beginnings in 2010, we have provided more than 56,000 experiences for pediatric patients and their families. Serving children with serious illnesses and chronic medical conditions has always been the core of the Victory Junction mission. For children who can’t come to Camp, REACH brings the Camp to them!
