Hole in the Wall Gang Creates New Camp Experience for Children with Serious Illnesses in the Age of COVID

When COVID-19 forced the public into isolation, Paul Newman’s Hole in the Wall Gang – a camp for children with serious illnesses founded in 1988 – sprang into action, developing creative virtual opportunities for immunocompromised children and their families.

With in-person offerings throughout the year, including their annual summer camp sessions on site in Ashford, Conn., Hole in the Wall Gang Camp provides valuable opportunities for children to experience comradery and fun in a safe environment. During quarantine, this camp connection became all the more important for participating families.

“We knew right away that it was really important to not have any break in services,” explained Chief Program Officer Hilary Axtmayer. “Our campers and our families – because of their illnesses – are often really isolated, so we thought that, even more than ever, we wanted to continually provide those services.”

Within a week of the official orders to work from home, the Hole in the Wall crew began offering Facebook Live programming and increased content on their social media channels. From online story time and virtual family weekends to activities and livestreamed evening Cabin Chats, the staff ensured children and families remained connected to the magic of camp during an especially difficult time.

“We saw that people were really craving that connection, albeit virtual,” remarked Axtmayer. The social media engagement on their new offerings reflected this, with an increase of 370% on Facebook, 470% on Instagram, and 200% on YouTube between March 23 and May 12.

With the success of the spring programming, the Hole in the Wall team went to work, devising three summer camp experiences for children to choose from: Weeklong Summer Sessions, a Mailing Series, and Special Interest Clubs.

Weeklong Summer Sessions were designed to feature a variety of interactive live and pre-recorded online content, bringing the magic of Camp straight to campers’ homes.

The Hole in the Wall Gang also felt it was important to provide activities outside of the digital space for those experiencing virtual fatigue. For this, they created the Mailing Series option for campers, where weekly projects were delivered directly to their doors. Using the package of supplies (and the optional accompanying video programming), participants created special Camp keepsakes to hold onto or send back to Ashford. This quickly garnered the most interest during the Camp enrollment period.

The third option, Special Interest Clubs, allowed campers with similar passions to learn more about their areas of interest while connecting with their peers. Guided by volunteers and professionals in the field, these groups covered everything from theater and photography to music recording.

This reimagined summer camp experience proved highly popular with children and their families. Within the first two weeks of registration, roughly 25% of Hole in the Wall’s usual 1,100 campers were signed up for the free virtual programming.

In addition to Hole in the Wall’s offerings for campers, providing programming and support for parents, caregivers, and siblings has remained an especially important initiative during the pandemic.

“Parents and caregivers who have a child with serious illness are already really isolated. Then, add quarantine on top of that, and the concern of having an immunocompromised child. We really wanted to have that connection and community, which is so important at Hole in the Wall,” Axtmayer shared.

To make this a reality, the camp staff facilitated Zoom chats where parents and caregivers could connect with each other. For families who would have participated in onsite programming, Hole in the Wall also sent out over 100 large care packages brimming with activities, games, and “camp love.”

The pandemic offered siblings of campers an unexpected silver lining. Throughout the course of a typical summer, seven camp sessions are devoted to diagnosed campers, while the final session is dedicated to the siblings of those children. Because of the camp site’s size and the number of siblings, there is often a waitlist for this session. However, the virtual programming this year allowed Hole in the Wall to welcome all interested siblings.

Outside of summer camp, Hole in the Wall continued to adapt their offerings further – specifically with their dedicated team of Hospital Outreach Specialists, who visit children in 40 hospitals throughout the northeast and the mid-Atlantic region.

Though COVID canceled in-person bedside visits, “we knew that these kids in the hospital really needed that familiar face and that camp logo that they’ve come to love,” said Axtmayer.

The team’s creative solution was to begin streaming content over the hospitals’ closed-circuit televisions and delivering five activity videos every week, accompanied by boxes of  supplies at each hospital. Additionally, the Hole in the Wall team has hosted virtual game shows for patients, as well as live, interactive virtual bedside visits. 

Rising to the challenges of COVID and adapting programming accordingly, the Hole in the Wall team has stayed true to their core values of comradery, safety, and appreciation, while also keeping alive Paul Newman’s original vision of creating a place where kids can “raise a little hell” and get “a different kind of healing.”

As Hole in the Wall’s Chief Executive Officer Jimmy Canton wrote in his annual email to families and volunteers, “Even though this summer our cabins will be empty and our Dining Hall silent for the first time in our history, the magic of Hole in the Wall will be everywhere, reminding us all that Camp is so much more than a place – it is a spirit and community that knows no bounds.”

This story was reported and written for CT by the Numbers by Elizabeth Marone, a freelance writer based in Hartford.