The Painted Turtle is a

Summer camp A summer camp or sleepaway camp is a supervised program for children conducted during the summer months in some countries. Children and adolescents who attend summer camp are known as ''campers''. Summer school is usually a part of the academ ...

located near Lake Elizabeth in

Lake Hughes, California Lake Hughes is an Unincorporated area, unincorporated community in northern Los Angeles County, California. It is in the Sierra Pelona Mountains, northwest of Palmdale, California, Palmdale and north of the Santa Clarita Valley, in the Angeles N ...

. The camp is for children who are faced with life-threatening and chronic illnesses. Many of these children would not have the opportunity to have a camping experience due to their illness. The year-round programming for campers and their families is provided free of charge.

History

The Painted Turtle was founded in 1999 by

Paul Newman Paul Leonard Newman (January 26, 1925 – September 26, 2008) was an American actor, film director, race car driver, philanthropist, and entrepreneur. He was the recipient of numerous awards, including an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, three ...

and

Page Page most commonly refers to: * Page (paper), one side of a leaf of paper, as in a book Page, PAGE, pages, or paging may also refer to: Roles * Page (assistance occupation), a professional occupation * Page (servant), traditionally a young mal ...

and

Lou Adler Lester Louis Adler (born December 13, 1933) is an American record and film producer and the co-owner of the Roxy Theatre in West Hollywood, California. Adler has produced and developed a number of iconic musical artists, including The Grass Ro ...

. The camp was conceptualized by Adler and soon was able to get Newman to sponsor it as a part of his

Hole in the Wall Gang Camp The Hole in the Wall Gang Camp, based in Ashford, Connecticut, is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization, residential summer camp, and year-round center serving children and their families coping with cancer and other serious illnesses and condition ...

s. The camp got its name from the

painted turtle The painted turtle (''Chrysemys picta'') is the most widespread native turtle of North America. It lives in slow-moving fresh waters, from southern Canada to northern Mexico, and from the Atlantic to the Pacific. They have been shown to prefer l ...

, a widespread species found in most of the United States (but not native to California). Adler says, "It's an animal that has a tough exterior and a soft interior, very much like these kids that we're serving." The camp opened its doors in the Fall of 2003. The camp suffered damage during the Power House Fire in 2013. Several outbuildings and facilities were destroyed in the fire which caused the organization to cancel all summer sessions that had been planned for the year. Beside the direct damage from the fire itself, the air conditioning systems located in cabins and buildings throughout the camp had been compromised by smoke and ash and had to be cleaned. The camp resumed its summer camp program in June 2022 following a two year shutdown due to the global

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

pandemic. During the shutdown, several concrete paths were added in order to improve access to various activity areas for people with limited mobility.

Camp experiences

Activities include horseback riding, ropes course, arts and crafts, woodshop, archery, team building experiences, fishing, boating, singing and dancing. Campers stay in small dormitory type housing units called bales. Many different groups come through the camp every year and stay for about a week. These groups include: #

Crohn's disease Crohn's disease is a type of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) that may affect any segment of the gastrointestinal tract. Symptoms often include abdominal pain, diarrhea (which may be bloody if inflammation is severe), fever, abdominal distension ...

and

ulcerative colitis Ulcerative colitis (UC) is a long-term condition that results in inflammation and ulcers of the colon and rectum. The primary symptoms of active disease are abdominal pain and diarrhea mixed with blood (hematochezia). Weight loss, fever, and a ...

(

inflammatory bowel disease Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a group of inflammation, inflammatory conditions of the colon (anatomy), colon and small intestine, Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis being the principal types. Crohn's disease affects the small intestine a ...

) #Skeletal dysplasia (

dwarfism Dwarfism is a condition wherein an organism is exceptionally small, and mostly occurs in the animal kingdom. In humans, it is sometimes defined as an adult height of less than , regardless of sex; the average adult height among people with dw ...

) #

Asthma Asthma is a long-term inflammatory disease of the airways of the lungs. It is characterized by variable and recurring symptoms, reversible airflow obstruction, and easily triggered bronchospasms. Symptoms include episodes of wheezing, cou ...

Kidney transplant Kidney transplant or renal transplant is the organ transplant of a kidney into a patient with end-stage kidney disease (ESRD). Kidney transplant is typically classified as deceased-donor (formerly known as cadaveric) or living-donor transplantati ...

Diabetes Diabetes, also known as diabetes mellitus, is a group of metabolic disorders characterized by a high blood sugar level ( hyperglycemia) over a prolonged period of time. Symptoms often include frequent urination, increased thirst and increased ap ...

Arthritis Arthritis is a term often used to mean any disorder that affects joints. Symptoms generally include joint pain and stiffness. Other symptoms may include redness, warmth, swelling, and decreased range of motion of the affected joints. In som ...

Liver transplant Liver transplantation or hepatic transplantation is the replacement of a Liver disease, diseased liver with the healthy liver from another person (allograft). Liver transplantation is a treatment option for Cirrhosis, end-stage liver disease and ...

Spina bifida Spina bifida (Latin for 'split spine'; SB) is a birth defect in which there is incomplete closing of the spine and the membranes around the spinal cord during early development in pregnancy. There are three main types: spina bifida occulta, me ...

Hemophilia Haemophilia, or hemophilia (), is a mostly inherited genetic disorder that impairs the body's ability to make blood clots, a process needed to stop bleeding. This results in people bleeding for a longer time after an injury, easy bruising, ...

Muscular dystrophy Muscular dystrophies (MD) are a genetically and clinically heterogeneous group of rare neuromuscular diseases that cause progressive weakness and breakdown of skeletal muscles over time. The disorders differ as to which muscles are primarily affe ...

Primary immunodeficiency disease Primary immunodeficiencies are disorders in which part of the body's immune system is missing or does not function normally. To be considered a ''primary'' immunodeficiency (PID), the cause of the immune deficiency must not be secondary in nature ...

Several family weekends are also held in the spring and fall where families of children can get a taste of the camp experience. The facility also offers a program that takes the camp experience to children who are hospitalized and too ill to attend the camp.

Corporate contributions

Several companies have made substantial contributions in order to help the foundation build the facilities at the camp.

PacifiCare Health Systems PacifiCare Health Systems, Inc. was a provider of health insurance based in Cypress, California. It was acquired by UnitedHealth Group in December 2005. History The predecessor of the company was founded in 1978 by Samuel J. Tibbitts as a subsidia ...

(now part of

UnitedHealth Group UnitedHealth Group Incorporated is an American multinational managed healthcare and insurance company based in Minnetonka, Minnesota. It offers health care products and insurance services. UnitedHealth Group is the world's seventh largest c ...

) provided funds to build the camps "Well Shell" building. This building is staffed by a team of medical professionals during camp sessions treating campers requiring routine treatment for their illnesses like infusions and Dialysis along with the normal scrapes, cuts and bruises suffered during their time at the camp. Rooms throughout the facility are decorated to resemble a tiki hut and other scenery. The

Los Angeles Lakers The Los Angeles Lakers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Lakers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Pacific Division. The Lakers play their ...

provided the floor for the camp's gymnasium and Sea World provided funding for the camp's swimming pool which is shaped like a killer whale.

Volunteers

The Painted Turtle is run with the help of volunteers. In 1995, the then Hole in the Wall Camps became The

Phi Kappa Tau Phi Kappa Tau (), commonly known as Phi Tau (), is a collegiate fraternity located in the United States. The fraternity was founded in 1906. As of November 2022, the fraternity has 161 chartered chapters, 79 active chapters, 6 Associate chapte ...

fraternity's national philanthropy program. Now known as

SeriousFun Children's Network SeriousFun Children's Network is a global community of 30 camps and programs for seriously ill children. All camps and programs offer free recreational experiences to children with serious illnesses and their family members. The first SeriousFu ...

, the Fraternity recognises this camp and the entire network as their national philanthropy program. In June 2006 a national collegiate sorority,

Delta Zeta Delta Zeta (, also known as DZ) is an international college sorority founded on October 24, 1902, at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. Delta Zeta has 170 collegiate chapters in the United States and Canada, and over 200 alumnae chapters in Cana ...

, partnered with The Painted Turtle. Given this partnership the camp became a part of the sorority's national philanthropy program.

References

External links