Great Escapes Deliver a Community of Caring

When a child is seriously ill, everyone in the family is affected. Sometimes the daily emotional and financial struggles that come with caring for a sick child are so overwhelming that the thought of leaving the house for a family event seems impossible.

Starlight understands what families go through when a child is sick, and the importance of breaking the cycle of depression and loneliness. The Great Escapes family activities program was created to provide families with a chance to spend recreational time together to relax away from the hospital and make special memories together.

Feeling Both Normal and Extraordinarily Special
The variety of activities offered through Great Escapes is endless: movie screenings, circus trips, mother-daughter makeovers, sporting events, picnics and more. Starlight and our corporate partners and donors underwrite all event costs to make every Great Escape an "all inclusive" affair, allowing families to relax and enjoy themselves while someone else worries about the details.

Everything about Great Escapes is designed to make a sick child feel extraordinarily special, from the personalized invitations to being greeted by name at every event. But more importantly, Great Escapes also make the children feel incredibly normal as they experience fun activities in a friendly, accepting environment. Starlight children also report feeling good that they are the reason their family gets to enjoy an unexpected treat -- rather than another unexpected crisis.

Parents frequently cite Great Escapes experiences as truly therapeutic, giving courage and energy to all family members. In recently conducted focus groups commissioned with parents, sick children and siblings, families reported that Great Escapes also provide:

• A sense of hope for the future
• Valuable connections with others facing similar challenges and "emotional companionship" for the journey
• Priceless family memories away from hospital or clinical settings; for some families, Great Escapes are among the last outings they'll have with their sick children
• Rare opportunities for social and interpersonal interaction
  

Creating Connections
In addition to needing to reconnect as a family, seriously ill children, parents and siblings have an incredible need to interact and bond with other families. Time and time again, families who participate in our focus groups convey the importance of having a social support network during a time when they feel very alone.

At Great Escapes, moms talk with moms, dads with dads and siblings with peers, reducing feelings of isolation. This community-building bolsters spirits, provides outlets for buried emotions and creates a vital support system during the most difficult times in a family's life. Starlight families make lasting connections through Great Escapes - connections that endure through medical treatments, the hope and despair of serious illness, and even the tragic loss of a child.

Great Escape Weekend at Camp Pontiac

Starlight NY*NJ*CT welcomed more than 200 children and family members to our first annual Great Escape Weekend at Camp Pontiac on September 5-7, 2008.  The camp is a beautiful state-of-the art facility located in Copake, NY in the foothills of the Berkshire Mountains.  The Starlight children and families had loads of fun with arts & crafts, swimming, zip-lining, a movie theater, arcade, and of course, toasted marshmallows and smores by the camp fire.  They even had soft-serve ice cream in a private ice cream parlor!  To view the Camp Pontiac Yearbook click here. 

Changing Lives
The Great Escapes program is supported by a wide variety of in-kind donations and cash contributions.  It is a valuable investment and a chance for community involvement that yields tremendous rewards for both the corporate sponsor or donor and the many deserving Starlight families they host. To learn how your company can sponsor Great Escapes or provide in-kind support, please contact Mercedes Von Kaenel at mercedes@starlightnyc.org.

Family Enrollment

To learn whether your family is eligible to participate in the Great Escapes program or to apply, click here.

Volunteer 

To find out about volunteer opportunities, click here to complete our volunteer application. 

To learn more about this program, email your question to Lauren Berninger at laurenb@starlightnyc.org.