A Woodytent M was recently donated to KOA Care Camps for a live auction. The tent, valued at $27,000, will be up for bid at the Care Camps auction on the final day of the KOA Annual Convention in Fort Worth, Texas, Nov. 12-15.
“Woodytent’s generous donation will allow us to send even more children with cancer to camp,” said Karen McAndrew, executive director of KOA Care Camps and owner of Cardinal/Ottawa South KOA in Canada. “We can’t thank them enough.”
Rendy Regtuit, sales consultant at Woodytent, said the company believes that finding time to vacation, relax and connect with nature are important for everyone, but especially for children who are ill.
“It is necessary on occasion to retreat from the stresses of daily life and immerse ourselves in the beauty of the natural world,” said Regtuit. “This is especially true for children battling cancer. … The least we can do is provide these children a place away from the hospital, where they can be silly kids instead of patients. We donated the Woodytent M, our favorite tent design, with love to the Care Camps Auction so that these children will have the funds available to create joyous memories with their friends and forget their worries for a time while at camp.”
The Woodytent M can sleep up to six people. It features one queen bed, one bunk bed and a cabin bed. It has a full bathroom, tent and deck furniture, kitchen, and lots of storage space.
“Gifts, like this amazing one from Woodytent, have a major impact on the lives of kids with cancer, allowing them to attend one of the 133 oncology camps that we support. These camps are provided at no cost to their families,” McAndrew said. “Their camp experience provides them with lifelong friends, a respite from their daily challenges and a chance to be a kid again. The healing power of camp is amazing.”
McAndrew said that the cost to operate these camps continues to grow and the average cost to send a child to camp has risen to $1,800 per week.
The KOA Owners’ Association created KOA Care Camps in 1984. More than $13 million has been raised. In 2017, $1.15 million in operating and capital grants was disbursed serving 42,000 people.
