The Camp Quality crew, made up of 20 children and 5 companions, lit up the lives of everyone at The Francis Retreat during their five-day stay in January 2021.

For those who don’t know, Camp Quality is an organisation that gives kids facing cancer the chance to be kids again through fun experiences and supports their families with trusted information and coping tools. Camp Quality’s services and programs are created specifically to support children aged up to 15 years, who are dealing with their own cancer diagnosis, or that of someone they love, like a brother, sister, mum or dad.

The week of intense activity featured lots of water fights, brown paper and crayon drawing sessions at meal time, and a graduation evening for one participant who had reached the age when it was time to transition from Camp Quality to Canteen.

Manager of The Francis Retreat, Joady Castles, said the Camp Quality visit had been in the pipeline for a while and, due to COVID restrictions, waiting for the right opportunity.

‘It was wonderful that we were finally able bring the Camp Quality visit to fruition even though there were some cancellations  – originally we were to host 60 children however COVID outbreaks meant some children from hotspot areas could not attend, which was disappointing for them,’ said Joady.

‘Those who did attend had an absolutely amazing time – we were all in awe of their tenacity and their joyful attitude to life,’ she added.

‘The volunteers who came along as their companions were pretty special people, too! Our staff forged strong relationships with the group during their stay. So much so that many of the staff came in on their day off to say goodbye to the group.’

When the Francis Retreat received the post-stay evaluations, one said ‘you could taste the love in the food’ so the feeling must have been mutual!