Camp Holiday Trails focuses on the child, not the illness
In the mid-1960s, three pediatricians from the University of Virginia, Dr. Peter Houck, Dr. Elsa Paulsen, and Dr. Robert Selden, shared a vision for a camp where children with medical needs could experience the great outdoors under round-the-clock medical care. Originally, each physician operated their own camp, and early facilities included local schools, churches, and the backyard of a hospital. In 1973, with considerable community support and David Goodwin’s donation of 75 acres of land near the Charlottesville reservoir, Holiday Trails, Inc. was founded. The first buildings were built by volunteers and in 1974, Camp Holiday Trails became one of the first camps in the region to welcome children with diverse medical diagnoses.
Now celebrating its 50th year, Camp Holiday Trails (CHT) has created a community where children and teens with medical needs and their siblings can thrive. Over the past five decades, more than 10,000 kids with diverse medical diagnoses have come to the camp to develop confidence, independence, and lifelong friendships while participating in traditional activities like horseback riding, arts and crafts, fishing, sports, swimming, archery, campfire songs, and more.
“CHT has remained true to its original mission for 50 years and counting,” says Tina LaRoche, who has been Camp Holiday Trails executive director since 2004. “We have a tight thread back to our founder’s vision and continue to adapt and shape our work alongside our campers and families.”
At its core, CHT is a community of acceptance, welcoming different abilities with the knowledge that these differences are what makes the world a more interesting place. The camp accomplishes this through a commitment to creating a community built on positivity, empathy, inclusion, and compassion. Campers choose their activities and are encouraged to take risks that build their confidence and self-assurance. CHT provides a critical respite from the daily stress of managing the chronic illness that campers, along with their families and caregivers, would otherwise not be able to experience. Here, kids no longer feel defined by their illnesses or economic conditions.
Campers and their siblings come to CHT from across the country, but are predominantly from the Mid-Atlantic region. Many campers have multiple diagnoses, including cancer, diabetes, sickle cell, hemophilia, juvenile arthritis, or are recipients of transplants. Almost half also have mental health diagnoses. The majority come from economically challenged households, but the camp raises funds to accommodate as many campers as possible. Typically, CHT covers more than 90% of the cost for its campers.
The camp works to counteract what it calls “nature-deficit disorder.” Combining a focus on being outdoors and connecting with nature, exercising and eating healthy foods, building friendships with counselors and other campers, and being cared for by a tie-dye-wearing medical team, the camp creates a welcoming and inclusive space where campers can thrive and have fun. It’s a place where kids can just be kids.
“Some of our favorite activities are just like what you would see at any traditional camp,” says Taryn Mouhot, camp director. “Our campers love to be on the waterfront, where they can fish, kayak, and canoe. They love horseback riding on the horses that are donated to us during the summer. Our challenge course with high ropes, a rock-climbing wall, and zip line is always a camp favorite. We also do all the other traditional activities like friendship bracelets, campfires, songs and s’mores.”
CHT welcomes more than 300 campers to summer camp, over 150 participants to the year-round Family Camp program, and about 300 participants to its year-round Pop Up Camps. During the next several years, the camp plans to expand its reach to include at least 1,000 campers as the need grows for this kind of specialized camping experience.
More than 600 volunteers help make the camp’s mission a reality, including about 60 medical volunteers who donate their time each summer to ensure campers have a fun and safe experience. “Running camp is like running a small city—and we need every hand,” says LaRoche.
Along with its overnight summer camps, CHT offers a diverse range of programs including year-round family retreats, and innovative Pop Up Camps. These traveling Pop Up Camps allow CHT to meet the needs of children through partnerships with UVA Pediatrics, VCU’s pediatric hematology and oncology clinics, Carilion Children’s Hospital in Roanoke, and many more partners.
“It gives kids a small piece of camp magic that they can take home with them, so we’re touching more lives that way,” says Mouhot. “We’ll do temporary tattoos, face paint, or pipe-cleaner butterflies—anything we can do in a one-on-one setting that doesn’t require being outdoors. We also do larger scale Pop Ups at other locations that include traditional camp activities.”
The camp’s 50th anniversary campaign, which includes a new medical facility for campers, received a boost from a $50,000 donation from this past April’s 45th running of the Foxfield Spring Races. “For us to go this alone would be really challenging but to do it with our partners and with our community makes our work that much easier,” says LaRoche.
CAMP HISTORY
1970s
Enhanced infrastructure and fostered community engagement, including the construction of cabins
1980s
Broadened the spectrum of diagnoses and medical conditions supported at camp, with continued growth in camper numbers.
1990s
Volunteers honored by the White House for their exceptional service to the community.
2000s
Expanded impact with new collaborations with organizations such as the Virginia Hemophilia Association and Family Camps.
2010s
Programs significantly expanded to include year-round operations; camp facilities retrofitted to accommodate all seasons.
2020s
Introduced innovative programs such as Pop Up Camps and broadened camps to include siblings.
2024
Celebrating 50 years of transformative camp programs for kids with medical needs and starting to build the new Med Korner.
