ClarksvilleNow.com Reporting
news@clarksvillenow.com
DOVER, Tenn. – Camp Rainbow, which provides a week-long camp experience for seriously ill children, opened up again Monday, June 9 with tons of fun activities.
Camp Rainbow is part of the Dream Factory, which was originally established in Hopkinsville, Ky. to give seriously ill children an opportunity to have a special wish granted. The program was then brought to Clarksville by Steve and Diane Miner.
The couple began granting dreams to these children, but quickly realized they wanted to do more, and in 1983 they founded Camp Rainbow to give the kids more opportunities to grow and simply have fun.
Camp Rainbow is completely free for children and their families and relies on volunteers and donations from the community. Campers have their own counselor for the full week and are supervised by medical professionals from Premier Medical Group of Clarksville.
“It’s a happy time, and those kids forget about their illnesses and pitch in to help each other,” Steve said. “The ones who benefit are the counselors and staff by being around those kids because they’re so courageous and have so much to offer to us.”
In February, Beaver 100.3 radio held it’s fifth annual Camp Rainbow RadioThon which raised more than $70,000 toward the camp.
See photos from opening day of Camp Rainbow 2014 below, courtesy of Steve Eckart: