By Sara Page, Midlothian Exchange
spage@midlothianexchange.com

Families and volunteers turned out by the dozens Saturday at Peak Experiences indoor rock climbing facility. The excursion cost the families only the travel to get to the facility, and paid dividends in the form of smiles of children just escaping for a while.

The event was one of the monthly outings planned by Great Escapes, which offers children with long term illnesses and their entire families the chance to get away from the hospitals and network with other families in the area.

“We have 137 families which I think is close to 500 people in the metro Richmond chapter,” Great Escapes Coordinator – Richmond, Dawn Howard said. “It’s not just a sick child; it’s the entire family, so the families get to bond with other families that are going through the same thing. They may not have the same illness, but they’re in the same situation.”

The kids could barely wait for their parents to get the release forms signed and harnesses and helmets properly fitted before they ran to the waiting volunteers. Some learned how to retrace the figure-eight knots themselves while others patiently let their belayers do it for them. They then scrambled up the walls. Some deftly climbed the 30-foot expanses with parents and siblings in tow while others were more at home close to the ground. Either way, the smiles and laughter were contagious.

“The events give them time away from the hospital, time away from illness,” Howard said.

Peak Experiences donated the use of the facility and staffers for the event and Chick-Fil-A donated lunch afterward for those in attendance.

“We’ve been lucky,” Howard said. “We do all kinds of things. We’ve done rides; we do bounce places; next month we’re going to a farm; we go to the berry patch; we go to the pumpkin patch; we go to Theater IV. It’s a wide range of things, and I try to change things a lot.”

Great Escapes is part of the Starlight Children’s Foundation Mid Atlantic based in Washington, D.C., which services hospitals in Washington, D.C., Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Delaware and West Virginia. The non-profit organization works to put a little bit of childhood back into the lives of kids with serious illnesses and complications ranging from severe burns to sickle cell anemia, cystic fibrosis, cancer and Crohn’s disease.

“There’s a wide range of what’s wrong,” Howard said. “We don’t just service cancer. It’s any serious or life-threatening illness. The families are awesome about helping each other out too. They help each other with what’s going on at schools … It’s about them having fun and forgetting.”

Programs in the Starlight Children’s Foundation range from in-hospital entertainment and educational technology to distributing information to the patients that they can easily understand. Great Escape outings are part of those services and, like the others, strives to not only meet the needs of the kids but of their entire family. The Great Escapes Richmond chapter serves families from around the area and as far away as Williamsburg and points beyond. The group depends on the donations of individuals and businesses to keep costs at a minimum for families.

“[Events] are 100-percent paid for by either donations by where we’re having them or donations our chapter receives when we do our galas. We go and the families don’t have to worry about paying because they have enough to worry about. They come, they have fun, they don’t worry about anything, and they just enjoy,” Howard said.

Learn more about the Starlight Children’s Foundation at their Web site. To get involved with the Great Escapes Richmond chapter as a volunteer or a participant, contact Howard at (804) 536-7490.