Camp Kesem

Camp Kesem is an active community throughout the United States, driven by college students, supporting children through and after their parent’s cancer. Camp Kesem’s main focus is putting on a summer camp for kids whose parents have or have had cancer. The camp is completely free to the children and put on solely by the college students that double as counselors, programming staff, and administration staff. [1]Since 2000, when it was founded at Stanford University, Camp Kesem has expanded to over 100 active chapters.

The first Camp Kesem project was founded at Stanford University in 2000 as a project of Hillel at Stanford, a nonprofit serving Jewish students at the University. The project was developed by founder Iris Rave Wedeking, and a group of student leaders who sought to create a summer camp experience for children in need for little to no cost for the families.

After assessing the needs of the community, the students found that children who have, or have had, a parent with cancer comprised an under-served population who could benefit from a summer camp experience with peers who faced similar challenges.

The Camp Kesem project at Stanford hosted its first summer session in June 2001, free of charge to 37 campers. Since then, the project has continued and has grown each year to engage more student volunteers and serve more children across the country.

Based on the success of Camp Kesem at Stanford, Iris Rave founded Camp Kesem National in August 2002 to share the project’s model with college campuses across the nation.