Upcoming PumpkinFest to Support Camp Sunshine

Editor's note: This article was written by Jamie Packs and Robert Barron.

On Saturday, Oct. 15, from 1 to 5 p.m., the will be flooded with Weston High School volunteers and community members working to raise money for Camp Sunshine.

This day of activities, including pumpkin carving, face painting, tie-dying, live music and plenty of games and fun for all, supports this tremendous organization. This is the sixth year the high school has hosted PumpkinFest, an event founded by Hillary Sieber, a 2008 Weston High School graduate, in an effort that has raised a significant amount of money for a noble cause.

Located in Casco, Maine, Camp Sunshine provides a camp vacation at no charge to children with life-threatening illnesses and their families. Staffed largely by volunteers, the camp offers one of the only programs in the nation whose mission is to address the impact of a life-threatening illness on every member of the immediate family.

It offers these families a place to relax together for a week, and to take a break from the extraordinary demands placed upon them on a daily basis. While attending the various week-long camps, families are able to rebuild relationships together and meet other families facing similar challenges.

Sieber, also a long-time volunteer, remarks that "the energy, enthusiasm, and love at Camp Sunshine is palpable! Even as a volunteer, you understand the unique place Campus Sunshine holds in both the hearts of the children and parents as a place of growth and healing."

Camp Sunshine provides this welcome retreat for children and their families coping with such life-threatening illnesses as cancer, kidney disease and lupus. Since 1984, it  has offered recreational, medical and counseling services at no cost to more than 32,000 individuals from diverse cultural and economic backgrounds.

You can help support Camp Sunshine volunteering, donating, or simply attending this year's PumpkinFest. For more information please visit www.whspumpkinfest.org.