A blog on theater (and other stuff) from the fine folks at Apple Core Theater Company
Camp AmeriKids
Today, we have Jessica Luck, one of the talented actresses from AS IS, here to talk to us about a cause near and dear to her heart. She included some wonderful images with the post that will be included in a separate entry shortly, so please make sure you check in to see those.
Since 1997, I have had the privilege of volunteering at Camp AmeriKids, a sleep-away camp for children in the Tri-State area who are infected with or affected by HIV/AIDS. Many of the campers are HIV+. Others have lost a parent or both parents to the disease. At home they are often caregivers, but at camp they get the chance to just be kids.
Each summer I join 75 volunteers armed with sunblock, bugspray, sidewalk chalk, and facepaint. We teach campers how to make lanyards, how to float on their backs, and how to sing camp songs. They teach us the meaning of family, of courage, and of hope (and how to Dougie).
Many have watched loved ones die from a disease that they know is in their own blood, but a weakened immune system does not weaken their spirits. They read their own poems aloud in the dining hall, find frogs in nature, play in the basketball tournament, dance at the luau and break into a tizzy when they hear Justin Beiber on the radio.
Most adolescents are awkward and terrified of standing out, of being different. Ten years ago, my campers took handfuls of horsepills several times a day. Some of them were very small for their age, had distended bellies and feeding tubes, or moved with the aid of walkers or crutches. I will never forget watching a veteran camper with full-blown AIDS sing to a standing ovation at the talent show on what was to be her last summer.
Now, thanks to medical advances, you can rarely tell from the outside which campers are HIV+. For those with support, the disease is manageable and their futures are bright. But the stigma remains.
The theme of camp this summer was Mission Possible. A formerly shy returning camper can sing a song at the talent show that will bring us all to our feet. A camper without use of his legs can climb the tower at the high ropes course. A deaf camper can be a star break dancer. Campers from my early years have become counselors, have graduated from college, and have started their own families.
As much as I love it, I hope that Camp will become obsolete. I hope that there will be no more children born with HIV and a cure for those infected. We have come a long way, but we are not there yet, and until we are, I know that I’ll be spending my summers at Camp AmeriKids. As one of my campers put it, “I don’t get homesick at camp, but I get campsick at home.”
For more info on volunteering or donating please visit
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Apple Core Theater Company produces emotional, entertaining plays by American writers. Valuing the immediacy and intimacy of theater, we strive to present plays that cut down to the core and go straight to the heart. Believing that theater should be accessible to all people, we are committed to providing affordable theater to New York City.
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