Community Corner

Kids Of Courage Brings Chronically Ill Children On Trip Of A Lifetime

A Rocklander joined 150 chronically ill children on this special trip

Everyone deserves a summer vacation and on Aug. 16, 150 chronically ill children left for Kids of Courage’s annual summer trip. Each summer, Kids of Courage—a not-for-profit, volunteer organization—takes disabled children on a 9-day adventure and this year, they have traveled to San Francisco.

Co-founders of Kids of Courage, Ari Adlerstein, Dr. Stuart Ditchek and Howard Kafka, have a simple mission: to “conquer illness through adventure.” Volunteers strive to give children and young adults with disabilities the opportunity to live as other children do and to experience the world as much as possible.

The organization provides activities, trips and exciting events all year long and the Summer Adventure 2011 is the largest medically supervised adventure travel program in the United States. Most of the children on the trip left from Newark Airport in New Jersey; one incredible camper on this year’s trip, Raphael Greenfield, is from right here in Rockland—Spring Valley to be exact. 

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Raphael, or “Raffy” as his friends like to call him, is now 14 years old and lives with a rare, undiagnosed genetic condition that makes everyday life difficult for him.  He was born with virtually no face, is blind, uses a tracheotomy to assist his breathing, and uses cochlear implants to assist his hearing. Despite the struggles that Raphael is forced to face on a daily basis, this unbelievable teenager still manages to make the most of every moment in his life. He is a huge sports fan and plays baseball, his favorite sport.

The excited teen has been going on the Kids of Courage trip for three years and said, simply, that he was most excited “just to go.”

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For many of these campers, trips away from home are extremely difficult and the mere fact that they are being given the opportunity to go on this trip of a lifetime is enough to excite them. Raphael enjoys the trip each year and says, “Everything is fun.”  And while the airplane ride can be daunting and scary to many, for brave Raphael, it is his favorite part.

The children left aboard a special flight with a ratio of three supervisors to every one chronically ill camper. There were 500 people on the flight altogether. For many of the campers, the trip is monumental because it is the first time that they have ever traveled without their families.

While in San Francisco, the campers enjoyed a few days at Six Flags Great Adventure and at Raging Water (California’s largest water park).  They also visited Alcatraz, tour the Jelly Belly candy factory and the NASA center, and visit the Golden Gate Bridge.

“This is the largest group that we have ever traveled with and many are the sickest and most disabled kids we serve,” says Dr. Stuart Ditcheck, medical director and co-founder of Kids of Courage. “Our team is by far the most proficient in the world in providing medically supervised travel. For three years we have taken thousands of children on travels that help them feel lightened from their illness at least for a little while.”

Patch wishes this incredible group a great trip and a safe return.


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