November 2022 by Chris Logan
We attended Camp Rainbow Gold this weekend for Fall Family Camp and absolutely loved it! We weren't quite sure what to expect, we thought it would be something like summer camp where you do activities and sign songs, which we did, but there is much more depth to the camp than that.We arrived Thursday afternoon, checked in, and were shown our cabin. We were expecting little wooden cabins, we didn't even know if they'd have electrical outlets, turns out our cabin was 2 stories and could sleep about 8 people with 2 full bathrooms and a balcony. With family camp each family gets their own cabin.For activities over the weekend we did archery, mountain biking, ropes course, Pound, pumpkin pie making, made haunted gingerbread houses, scavenger hunt, art shack, kids carnival, parents night, star gazing, played games, are lots of yummy food, and hung out with retired NFL quarterback Carson Palmer and his family. It was unusually warm and smoky due to area forest fires so Friday most of our activities had to be inside, but the volunteers adjusted gracefully and made staying inside just as enjoyable as being outside.All activities were fun and the instructors were awesome, and while I could gush about all the activities a few particularly stood out and were above expectations. When I heard archery I thought of Cub Scout Day camp archery where they give you a cheap bow and your arrow barely flies 10ft. Nope, this was legit! John, the volunteer who ran the activity, spent one on one time with each participant and taught them how to shoot a bow. Even our 3yr old was hitting targets! Next, star gazing. When I heard star gazing I pictured looking up at stars as we walked back to our cabin; instead, it was another volunteer who brought his homemade telescopes out to camp so everyone could look at the moon and stars.Carson Palmer and his family also joined us Saturday afternoon. Of course he signed balls and took photos, but he also spent one on one time with every child and listened to what they had to say. He threw balls to them, his family played games with them, they even did archery with us. My son's wish is now to become an NFL quarterback like Carson Palmer.Now to the volunteers, they are incredible! They made sure everyone was safe, enjoying themselves, and felt welcomed, loved, and accepted. Our counselor Abbie was assigned two families due to some volunteers not being able to attend, but she made us, especially our kids, feel like they were the only ones in the world, but not just Abbie, all the volunteers make you feel that way. Since most of them are former participants and have had childhood cancer in their families they are empathetic and truly understand what we're going through. You can tell they care and their number one priority is to support the Oncology kids and families in whatever ways they can. The volunteers cooking made sure everyone had plenty of food and catered to special diets and my picky eats. The maintenance volunteers made sure everything was clean. The public restrooms were always clean!While Camp Rainbow Gold as an organization is top notch, the best part of camp are the other Oncology kids and their families. Our daughter is a year into treatment for Leukemia and living in Eastern Idaho we haven't had many opportunities to connect with other families going through similar challenges as us, but at camp we got to talk and interact with people who understand exactly what we're going through and can empathize with us.There are families of children currently battling cancer, children who are cancer free, children who's cancer has returned, and children who have passed away from cancer. The volunteers make the camp an emotionally safe environment where everyone can express their feelings and have deep conversations without feeling judged or like we're taking about something taboo. We left camp feeling understood, loved, lifted up, and with a stronger support group than we had before. We will be returning to Camp Rainbow Gold as often as we can.
