In-person retreats bring 'Sunshine' to local families

RUTLEDGE, Ga. - If you know anything about Camp Sunshine, you know it’s more than just a camp. Offering programs for Georgia youth with cancer and their families, a week at camp is a time when kids can focus on something other than their medical treatments and connect with others dealing with a similar set of circumstances. 

As former camper and counselor Karl Smart (brother of UGA football coach Kirby Smart) told us in 2019,  "It's a place where I could feel normal when I had cancer…you can get a treatment if you need to, but for the most part, you just get to be a regular kid."

So, when the pandemic put a pause on in-person camps last year, it was a tough blow for the kids and families that have come to depend on Camp Sunshine. And while virtual camps have allowed the connections to continue, camp staffers say this week’s long-awaited in-person Family Getaway Retreats feel like a big family reunion.

Camp Sunshine is holding a pair of Family Getaway Retreats this week, each lasting two nights; the first began Sunday and concludes today, and the second is scheduled for Wednesday through Friday.  Both retreats are happening at Camp Twin Lakes in Rutledge and are the first in-person events organized by Camp Sunshine since February of 2020.  Staffers say both retreats are being operated with strict COVID-19 safety precautions, but offer a long list of activities including biking, fishing, ceramics, horseback riding and even flying through the treetops on the camp’s zipline! Aside from the in-person retreats, Camp Sunshine again offered virtual summer camp this year for juniors and teens, dubbed Sunshine 2.1; both weeks of camp happened earlier this month.

Camp Sunshine was founded in the early 1980s by pediatric nurse Dorothy Jordan; over the past four decades, the camp has grown from less than 50 campers to more than 400 per summer, and the organization offers year-round programming in addition to its summer sessions.  Programming is offered to the children and their families at no cost.

Good Day Atlanta was thrilled to spend some time at Camp Twin Lakes, chatting with families taking part in the Family Getaway Retreats and learning more about why the mission of Camp Sunshine is so important; click the video player in this article for a peek at our morning at camp!

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