Our Staff

Counselors at Camp Esperanza are volunteers from all walks of life - doctors, nurses, lawyers, homemakers, business leaders - adults who give one week each summer to help make kids happy. Some have had cancer themselves. Camp is also staffed by physicians and nurses from Children's Medical Center who are familiar with the children and their individual health needs. There are no paid staff or employees.


Former Campers now Counselors

 Kevin Randles, Pam Ledbetter, Daniel Fontes, Robert Irwin, Jason Jennings, Andrew Wallace, Daniel Windle, Sarah Roberts, and Ivy Ferguson

 

Testimonials

"All through school, I was the kid who knew everyone. I was friends with all the popular kids, but was not really popular myself. I always felt that I was a little bit different, especially since it was hard to hide the physical scars and indications of my treatment. So, while I “fit in”, I did not really feel that I “fit”, except at camp. At camp, I was a rock star. Looking back, we were all rock stars at Camp Esperanza.

I was ten years old when I started. I spent six summers at camp and attended Teen Retreat for three more years. I consider Camp Esperanza to be an intensely influential aspect of my life. To have attended camp during such a formative time of my life, when I was a pre-teen and teenager coping with the aftermath of a traumatic incident like cancer, gave my experiences importance. Every moment of the day for that week each summer, I had dozens of adults surrounding me with encouragement and challenging me to try new activities. I met lifelong friends in my cabin who knew what it meant to endure cancer as a child. I found a community of people who loved me actively and overwhelmingly.

Earlier this summer, I was given the opportunity to speak with parents about why I became a counselor and why they should feel confident to send their child to camp. What I know about camp is that you will rarely find a group of adults who want so badly to pour love, grace and strength into the lives of children. In my nine years as a camper and three years counseling, I have found that the quality and strength of character of our volunteers only increases with time. Parents should know that not only will their children be safe and have a wonderful time, but that the campers will learn to view camp as a milestone in their lives. It is a time when they understand a little more about why they have cancer and a lot more about how incredible their lives are because of that struggle.

When I consider why I became a counselor at camp, I really consider what life would be like if I had not. It would be empty. It would be foolish. Because not making an attempt to contribute to an experience that so vastly shaped my character would be like turning my back on my parents and refusing to acknowledge their provision in my life. I hope that in the years I spend counseling at Camp Esperanza I am able to encourage, strengthen and laugh with other children to some fraction of the extent that others have done for me.

I recall a vague memory of camp one summer; I was sitting on a bench with Sarah Mehringer (a fellow camper-turned-counselor), and we were likely about twelve years old. We promised each other that we would both come back to Esperanza when we turned 21, and we would counsel together for as long as we were able.

I am so thrilled to be fulfilling that promise."

 

-- Pam Ledbetter