What is Camp Trillium?
Camp Trillium is an organization that provides recreational and camping experiences for children living with cancer and their families that love them. Established in 1984, Camp Trillium started with a camp for 24 campers in London and has now grown to provide year round programs for over 2300 campers province wide. Programs are provided at no financial cost to the families. Camp Trillium's goal is to make sure that every child has a chance to enjoy the fun and friendship of childhood.
Where is Camp Trillium?
Camp Trillium currently has two residential camps in southern Ontario. Garrett's Island, in operation since 1989, is located near Sandbanks Provincial Park, Pickton. The other is located on Rainbow Lake in Waterford Ontario, and has been in operation since 1998.
Who are the campers?
Due to the devastating effects that cancer has, not only on the children suffering from the disease, but his/her family as well, Camp Trillium opens its doors to entire families touched by cancer. This includes children suffering from the disease, those in remission, siblings, bereaved siblings, and parents. A caring, supportive, and positive environment embraces the entire family affected by cancer. The campers often come back time and time again, as there is no limit on the amount of times campers can visit.
How much does it cost?
It costs approximately $550.00 per week to send a child to Camp Trillium, but this cost is not passed on to the children who attend the camps or their families. All of the programs are are paid for through financial gifts, donations and funds raised by a very supportive network of service clubs, corporation, foundations, and members of the community.
"Concert To Cure"
In 2005, A hand picked by myself, dedicated group of individuals known as the;
"Concert To Cure" Committee was formed.
The committee members are;
Robert Brush: Founder, Concert Promoter, Chair
Ben Andres: Talent Coordinator
Ian Elliot: Camp Trillium Representative
Mike Jiggins: Committee Spokesperson
Brent McKay: Technical Adviser
Chris Wolfer: Clothing Designer
Mike Barber: Poster Design
Matt Malcolm: Treasurer
The committee is responsible for putting together, and hosting a concert in our town of Delhi, to help raise much needed funds to send children living with cancer, and the families that love them to camp. As Camp Trillium is a non profit organization, any support they receive helps tremendously with the cost of sending children to the camp. In 1999, I had the honor of participating in an event held at Camp Trillium dubbed "The Armchair Olympics." Each participant in the event, raise money to see who could stay awake the longest to win prizes. It really wasn't about the prizes, it was more about the money raised to help send the children to camp. Once summer time came around, we were invited back to Camp Trillium to see the children at camp, and a play they had put together. It was a wonderful experience. From that day, I knew I wanted to support the camp. It took a few years with health issues of my own, but today we support not only Camp Trillium, but also live music. This in turn, gives the musicians and bands our support and a venue to show their talent. It is a win win situation. We have had many musicians from many parts of the county, and beyond performing at "Concert To Cure."
A little background on why we are making this possible:
There re not many families in the world today that have not been touched by cancer. Our committee, as well as our performers know that we are not going to single handily find a cure for cancer. We are sure however, that we will make a difference in a young child's life that is living with cancer, to enjoy a great time at Camp Trillium. We believe that with our support, we are making it possible for the children afflicted with cancer, to be on top of the world, even for just one week, without the pressures of the world on top of them.
For information on "Concert To Cure" IV, check out my events page on Face Book.
Below are Posters from "Concert To Cure" I through IV.
