Camp Wonder is the name of a series of medically staffed summer camps sponsored by the nonprofit organization Children's Skin Disease Foundation (CSDF).

Background

Camp Wonder was established in 2001 by Francesca Tenconi, Dr. Jenny Kim and Dr. Stefani Takahashi at the

UCLA School of Medicine The University of California, Los Angeles School of Medicine—known as the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA (DGSOM)—is an accredited medical school located in Los Angeles, California, United States. The school was renamed in 2001 in h ...

to provide a free medically staffed

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 ...

experience for children with

skin disease A skin condition, also known as cutaneous condition, is any medical condition that affects the integumentary system—the organ system that encloses the body and includes skin, nails, and related muscle and glands. The major function of this ...

. The first Camp Wonder was established in

Livermore, California Livermore (formerly Livermorès, Livermore Ranch, and Nottingham) is a city in Alameda County, California. With a 2020 population of 87,955, Livermore is the most populous city in the Tri-Valley. It is located on the eastern edge of Californ ...

in 2001. Since its foundation, additional camps have been established in

Lake Hughes, California Lake Hughes is an unincorporated community in northern Los Angeles County, California. It is in the Sierra Pelona Mountains, northwest of Palmdale and north of the Santa Clarita Valley, in the Angeles National Forest. It is on the sag pond wat ...

and

Randleman, North Carolina Randleman is a city in Randolph County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 4,113 at the 2010 census. It is the home of NASCAR's Petty family, the Victory Junction Gang Camp and was the location of the Richard Petty Museum from 2003� ...

. Camp Wonder accepts children with skin disease with medical care requirements that cannot be satisfied at traditional summer camps. The medical staff at Camp Wonder is usually 40 doctors, physician assistants and nurses - all of whom volunteer their time. Camp Wonder does not charge any fee for attendance, so it attracts and accepts many children who are economically disadvantaged. Also, because skin disease is more visual for skin with more pigmentation, Latino and African-American children benefit greatly from Camp Wonder.

History

In 1996, Francesca Tenconi was diagnosed with

Pemphigus Foliaceous Pemphigus foliaceus is an autoimmune blistering disease ( bullous disorder) of the skin. Pemphigus foliaceus causes a characteristic inflammatory attack at the subcorneal layer of epidermis, which results in skin lesions that are scaly or cruste ...

, a life-threatening

auto-immune In immunology, autoimmunity is the system of immune responses of an organism against its own healthy cells, tissues and other normal body constituents. Any disease resulting from this type of immune response is termed an "autoimmune disease". P ...

based skin disease. She and the other children she met while receiving medical care felt isolated and had no organization focusing on the unique challenges faced by children with such visual diseases. On her 16th birthday in 2000, Tenconi established the Children's Skin Disease Foundation in

Walnut Creek, California Walnut Creek is a city in Contra Costa County, California, United States, located in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, about east of the city of Oakland. With a total population of 70,127 per the 2020 census, Walnut Creek s ...

to raise funds for research for the treatment and potential cure of several skin diseases that affect children. In 2001 Tenconi established Camp Wonder as 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 ...

for children who suffer from skin diseases in order to give them the sense of normalcy and the normal experiences that children have during the summer.

Recognition

Francesca's hard work, formation of the Children's Skin Disease Foundation, establishing Camp Wonder and advocacy for children has been recognized by several organization, some of which are: In 2002, Francesca received the Prudential Spirit of Community Awards. Francesca was also named one of America's Top 10 Women to Watch in 2005 by ''Glamour Magazine'' and received the Thread of Hope Award by ''Diablo Magazine'' in 2005. In 2006, Francesca Tenconi was presented with a Jefferson Award by the American Institute for Public Service and the Brick Award by Do Something in New York. In 2004, Francesca received an international award in Venice, Italy for her work to help a child with a rare skin disease who lived near Venice.

References

{{reflist

External links

What is Camp Wonder?
at csdf.org
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Wonder Wonder most commonly refers to: * Wonder (emotion), an emotion comparable to surprise that people feel when perceiving something rare or unexpected Wonder may also refer to: Arts and media Fictional entities * The Wonders, a fictional band ...

2001 establishments in California