About ROCK Camp and ROCK Programs

R.O.C.K. Camp… A Place Where Kids With Cancer Can Just Be Kids

R.O.C.K. stands for Reaching Out to Cancer Kids, and is a very special summer camp for kids and teenagers battling cancer.

Located in Eustis, Florida, the camp was originally founded by a Florida pediatric oncologist in 1976 and has the distinction of being the first program of it’s kind in the United States. R.O.C.K. camp serves more than 200 kids each summer. Campers ages 7-17 enjoy one full week of camp activities. They are referred by pediatric oncology treatment centers, their physicians and parents. There is no charge for attending the camp as it is totally funded by events such as the Nicholas R. Chiera Golf and Tennis Classic.

The actual camp is a facility called the Boggy Creek Camp. The camp was established by General Norman Schwartzkopf and Paul Newman and is located 30 miles north of Orlando, Florida. The camp is a state of the art facility with air conditioned cabins, a dinning hall, a special pool which can accommodate wheelchairs, and most important, a medical facility staffed with qualified physicians, oncologists, nurses and child life specialists. Medical care and even treatments are provided on the premises around the clock.

Swimming and archery. Fishing and horseback riding, computers , canoeing and a rope course, telling stories around the campfire are just some of the activities the R.O.C.K. campers are involved with. For a whole week, R.O.C.K. campers will just do what every other ordinary kid does at summer camp…. And that is the most extraordinary thing of all.

R.O.C.K. campers have cancer and when you’re young, cancer often means not being able to do everything your friends are doing. Cancer can make a child feel “different” and that can be the worst side effect of all. For more than 25 years, the Florida Division of the American Cancer Society has provided a place where kids with cancer can go and just be kids. R.O.C.K. camp is one full week of the kind of fun every kid loves. Campers can swim and splash under the warm summer sun… explore their creativity with arts and crafts projects… all in a safe environment. The camp’s setting provides the perfect backdrop for enjoying outdoor activities and developing lasting friendships. The carefully chosen staff counselors, many of them former R.O.C.K. campers who have beaten cancer, create an atmosphere of warmth and security.

The American Cancer Society’s R.O.C.K. camp is a special place, a place that gives kids something to look forward to summer after summer. It’s a place where everyone fits in. And it’s a place where kids with cancer can just be kids.

Click Below To Learn More about Other ROCK Programs:

ROCK Family Weekend

ROCK College Scholarship Program