Skip to content

Camp Quality kicks off

If Graeme hits the big-time with his harmonica, he said he’ll owe it all to Camp Quality.
104905_634170658772192909
Campers and volunteers perform a cheer Tuesday afternoon (Jamie Smith)

If Graeme hits the big-time with his harmonica, he said he’ll owe it all to Camp Quality.

The 18-year-old, who is spending his last year at the camp, said he wouldn’t have recorded his first album "Make Me Proud", written songs or even played without the support of the friends and volunteers he’s met in his 12 years with them.

"Everybody helped me out," Graeme said. "Every body in my cabin and lots of my fans here saying ‘keep on doing it’ is what inspired me."

Camp Quality is a year round support program for children with cancer and their siblings. The Northwest Camp at Camp Duncan on Loon Lake has been operating as the highlight of the program for nine years, a week-long camping adventure. Graeme said everyone he’s met through the camp is like his family.

"Camp Quality is like one big family I feel very special when I’m here," Graeme said.

Austin agrees. The second year camper said he didn’t know what to expect when he came to the camp.

"When I came here it far passed my expectations. There are a lot of nice people," Austin said. ""Meeting people who have gone through similarities and understand it’s really easy to connect," Austin said.
Finding friends who have gone through cancer treatments can be difficult Austin said but at Camp Quality everyone understands.
All 23 campers are paired with a companion, a volunteer similar to a Big Brother or Big Sister. Austin’s companion Kiyoshi Brayshaw first heard about the camp from his sister who also volunteers. A first-year companion Brayshaw said when he first heard about the camp he had to help out.
"I figured I’d come out here and give it a shot and I loved it. It’s really fun and I got a great companion he’s a cool guy," Brayshaw said.
Austin and Brayshaw were the hit at Camp Quality Tuesday as they spent the past few days building Ping-Pong tables, limbo poles and horseshoe pits for the other campers.
Another talent campers have been discovering is music. The theme of this year’s adventure is music with kids learning rock hip-hop and classical genres to name a few said camp director Gladys Berringer. Since so many campers wanted to play music, Berringer said they decided to create the whole theme of music this year. Camp Quality is all about letting kids be kids she added.
"Living with cancer is very difficult and challenging," said Berringer. "This gives them the opportunity to just be kids not focus on the illness and just participate and have a nice fun camping experience."
Berringer said the program is all funded by donations. All staff at the camp are volunteers, including a doctor and four nurses during the week-long stay.
‘"Once you’re part of Camp Quality it touches your heart," she said. "We give to the kids but we get so much more back."
Anyone looking to volunteer can contact Camp Quality on it’s web site Berringer said.





push icon
Be the first to read breaking stories. Enable push notifications on your device. Disable anytime.
No thanks