Camp for Children With Cancer Has Its 15th Anniversary

IDYLLWILD, Calif—Actor Dustin Hoffman joined “Ronald McDonald,” the McDonald’s restaurant clown, and nearly 100 campers and their families in celebrating the 15th anniversary of Camp Ronald McDonald for Good Times—one of the nation’s oldest and largest year-round recreational camping programs for children with cancer.

The camp is a program of Ronald McDonald House Charities and is cost-free to children with cancer and their families. Ronald McDonald House Charities gives grants to other programs throughout the country that provide camps for children with cancer.

As part of the anniversary celebration, children and families participated in outdoor activities and were given a demonstration of the new courage course, which includes a 50-foot climbing tower. At the end of the day, two-time Oscar winner Hoffman put his acting skills to the test reading ghost stories to the children around a camp fire.

The celebration also included dedication of a new medical complex consisting of an infirmary, sleeping ward, and the Hickman building for campers with catheter tubes needing specialized supervision before and after camp activities. With a rustic camping decor, the medical complex was purposely designed not to look or feel like a hospital.