Football players from the University of Georgia took time from their busy practice schedule on June 11 to surprise campers at Camp Rainbow.
After arriving at the Family Y’s Camp Lakeside, the players – Trevor Etienne, Jordan Hall, Miles Thornton, Terrell Foster, Dan Jackson and Malaki Starks – piled into golf carts and first visited the cabins, where the younger campers were relaxing after a morning filled with activities and getting ready for lunch. Each child was given a necklace with a plastic football attached, where they could collect the players autographs.
Timidly, a young girl in a pink T-shirt held hers out for Jordan Hall and asked, “Can you sign your autograph?”
“I would be honored to,” he replied.
As players made their way to the cabin porches to have group photos made with the campers who were staying in them, the campers chanted, “Goooo Dawgs!”
Afterward, the players loaded up in their van and went to Pointes West Army Resort, where the teen campers were preparing to challenge themselves on the ropes course. Watching from the ground as a group used hooks and tiptoed their way across a very high tightrope, one of the players yelled up, “I’m so proud of you, and I just met you!”
Each year, Camp Rainbow provides an opportunity for children living with cancer the opportunity to get away from a hospital setting and just be a kid. This demonstrates Wellstar’s commitment to fostering a culture of care that goes beyond treatment.
Click the photo to see a slideshow of the Georgia Bulldogs’ visit.
