DRAGONFLY OUTREACH

The Forest has taken root and a new branch of the tree has already begun to grow! Dragonfly Forest will extend our programs to Philadelphia area hospitals in 2008 in an effort to serve the kids whose illnesses prevent them from being able to attend summer sessions on the Dragonfly CAMPus.

"If the kids can't get to the camp, we'll take the camp to the kids," says Executive Director Fred Weiner. "And because we're big believers in the setting as an important part of the whole camp experience, we will try as best as we can - through creative means - to transform an area of the hospital so to the children it will seem more like camp than hospital."

Creative transformation, Dragonfly Forest-style, can mean everything from setting up a small-scale "carnival," to engaging kids in individual camp projects such as wood shop, to "sleeping under the stars" in pop-up tents and sleeping bags.

"People ask, 'how are you going to bring the lake into a hospital?' Well, we can bring a canoe into a therapy pool," Fred says. Daily activities will be planned and scheduled for the kids in much the same way they're planned for kids on the Dragonfly CAMPus.

Camp structure will be flexible to serve the needs of individual children. Planned to last two to five days in duration, the onsite camps can be tailored for the bedside for individual kids, a floor of the hospital for groups, or for multiple groups in a hospital. Dragonfly plans to schedule two to three in-hospital camps in late 2008 for the program's kickoff year.

"We are really excited about our new Outreach Program," says Fred. "It means Dragonfly Forest has the potential to reach thousands of kids we couldn't have otherwise."