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August 17, 2001/Av 28, 5761, Vol. 53, No.45
Letting kids be kids
Hole in the Wall Gang Camp is ally in struggle against disease
MARA DRESNER
Connecticut Jewish Ledger
The children at this Ashford, Conn., camp have busy days, filled with swimming, horseback riding, arts and crafts and sports.
Chemotherapy, blood tests and medication are also part of the scene at The Hole in the Wall Gang Camp, founded by actor/entrepreneur Paul Newman in 1988.
Each summer, more than 1,000 children ages 7-15, each with cancer or a serious blood disease, come to Ashford - free of charge - to enjoy the 325 acres of the camp, designed as a Wild West hideout.
Newman gave the seed money for the $20 million camp. Today, the camp relies on donations to run and maintain the facilities.
While Newman's name is inextricably linked to the camp, almost from the start, West Hartford, Conn., businessman and philanthropist Simon Konover has played an integral role in its development.
"I knew Paul Newman's attorney, Leo Nevas, from Westport, Conn. He called me and said Paul Newman would like to build a camp for children with life-threatening diseases, and would I be interested in getting involved in it, and I said of course, I would," Konover recalled from his Bishop's Corner, Conn., office. "So we got Konover Construction involved and we built the camp.
"We didn't have a complete set of plans. We built as we developed the plans. Paul wanted it to be a certain motif, a Western motif. We had an idea but we built it on a 'fast track basis,' " he said. "It was a labor of love."
Konover has donated more than $1 million in construction management services to the camp.
In a statement released through the camp, Newman said of Konover, "We couldn't have done it without him."
As a gesture of thanks, Newman made a donation to the Jewish Federation of Greater Hartford in his honor. Konover, who is on the camp's advisory council, was also the recipient of a special recognition award from the camp last year.
"When you do something like this, you hope it comes out okay. We have improved it every so often. It was going to be strictly a summer camp; now it's an all-year camp," said Konover, who noted that he'd "like to see a camp in every state of the union."
During the off-season, The Hole in the Wall Gang Camp offers activities for seriously ill children and their families, programs for health care professionals and social workers, and retreats for the parents of seriously ill children.
Konover tries to visit the camp each summer, lunching with the children beneath the colorful banners created by campers in each session, with themes as diverse as Viva Las Vegas and Alphabet Soup.
"The kids get up and say 'Thank you, Mr. Newman, for saving my life and making me happy.' You hear the story about the child who lives another year because he wants to get there. You're happy and you cry.
"It gets more beautiful every year. We add a little bit every year to make it better," added Konover.
Francine Harcourt Caplan, director of communications and grantwriting for The Hole in the Wall Gang Camp and a volunteer counselor, said of Konover, "He has a true sensitivity to the children of the camp and what they need."
Even on a drizzly, overcast day, the camp is filled with the familiar sounds of kids having fun.
"It gives the children so much hope and support that I've seen them will themselves to come back the next summer. We tell them to take a little bit of camp back home. We can see the changes in them physically.
Blood counts can go up. When they're happier, they can fight the illness better," said Caplan.
Cabins are divided by color - purple, yellow, green, red - indicated on the cabin doors. Each cabin has two counselors and two volunteers. Many counselors are former campers.
A 44-acre lake is fully stocked with fish. Campers release the fish back into the water, and some then make a wood replica of their fish in woodshop to display in the gazebo.
There are only three rules at the camp, posted throughout: 1) "No killer statements," 2) "No unsupervised activity," and 3) "No physical violence."
While every effort is made to provide a typical camping experience, everywhere there are reminders that this is no ordinary camp.
Colorful bandanas cover heads made bald by chemotherapy.
Dubbed the "OK Corral," the well-stocked infirmary, featuring colorful murals and treatment rooms with names like "Happy Hollow" and "Rosie's Saloon," takes care of daily medical needs and emergencies.
The swimming pool is fully heated, with a warming room nearby, especially important for campers with sickle cell anemia.
An open field serves as a gathering place - and a location where a LifeStar emergency helicopter could land, if needed. To date, the landing field has not been needed for medical emergencies, and no child has died during a camping session.
Near the high tower, where campers climb and rappel, a garden grows. It is a memory garden, a place for quiet contemplation.
"The reality is that some children die. This is a place to be spiritual and reflect. I think we need that," mused Caplan, who lives in New Haven, Conn., with her husband, Robert, and is involved with the Anti-Defamation League.
"In life, we get close to people, and they live and die. That's what happens here. Is it worth it? Most definitely.
"They give us back tenfold, life lessons about what is important and what is not," she continued. "Their bravery and courage is incredible.
What you get to see here is how life should be - all sorts of diverse people, all working together, getting along, sharing in the beauty of life. And I think, 'Why can't the rest of the world be like this?' We call it a magical place."
For further information about The Hole in the Wall Gang Camp, call 203-772-0522 or visit www.holeinthewallgang.org.
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