About Our Campers


The children who attend Dream Street camps range in age from four to fourteen years, and eighteen to twenty-four for our young adult program. These children are afflicted with terminal and chronic illnesses including cancer, HIV, sickle cell anemia, spinal bifida and hemophilia to name a few. At Camp Dream Street, children make special adjustments to new and different people, learn responsibility, and often gain new skills that increase self-esteem--while at the same time having lots of fun! They can continue uninterrupted medical treatments in an environment where no child sits on the sidelines or has reason to feel different. In the words of the American Cancer Association, “Kids who have these kind of experiences end up being healthier and have fewer problems that concern us all.”

The staff at Dream Street is approximately equal in number to the camper population and includes doctors, nurses and counselors. Evaluation and treatment of individual campers is an ongoing occurrence throughout the camp session.

We receive recommendations from local and national hospitals and social services for children to attend our camps. Some of the participating hospitals include St. Jude’s, Boston Children’s Hospital, UCLA, Hospital for Sick Children in London, and Long Beach Memorial. Camping sessions are free of charge to the children, who are flown in from all parts of the world.

Ozark Mountain National Camp Grounds Camp Henry S. Jacobs, Utica, Mississippi JCC on the Palisades, New Jersey

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Personal Words from a Dream Street Camper


When I dream, I am not in a wheelchair. From what I’ve read and heard, this isn’t unusual.
I’ve only used my wheelchair full-time for a bit over four years. Before that I walked at least a bit. It takes a pretty long time for your mind to really catch up with your body and your self-perception to change. 

So in my dreams, I invariably walk in the funny duck-foot gait I had. It has become a sort of security blanket for me that at least in my mind, in my dreams, my body works.

I know that someday, though, I will fall asleep to find my dream-self in a wheelchair too. I know it’s superstitious and silly, but when that happens, and I can’t escape the reality of my body, it will be like that old me is truly and permanently lost. 

With every year that passes, and every day I wake up to find my limbs so heavy and inert as sand bags, and my wheelchair next to the bed, that inevitable night comes a bit closer. The walking self moves a bit farther away, more distant, harder to remember.

When I first came to Dream Street, I had almost begun to look forward to that night, to hate my dream-self. There are only so many times you can hear “progressive, terminal, and irreversible” before you begin to believe it. I was resigned to simply dismissing my dream-self forever. She was so hazy, so distant, that it was painful to look at her. I hated her and I was so jealous.

That was where I was at the morning I arrived with my stack of Dream Street shirts and the charger for my batteries. I skimmed the schedule of classes, expecting to sit out a lot, watch a lot, miss a lot.

Instead, I began living seven days I never imagined, hoped or dreamed I ever would.

My first day there, I lifted weights. The next morning I learned to dance with the only unaffected muscles I have left. And that afternoon with the counselors cheering me on and supporting my body in the water, I stood for the first time in four years.

From then it only got more miraculous. In seven days I have done so much more that I ever thought myself capable of that it has been almost like I’ve been given my body back. And when I couldn’t do it by myself, one of the campers or counselors has done it with me--not for me, with me.

My dream-self has been allowed out just one more time.

I don’t know exactly how to tell you how much this means to me, or what a gift I’ve been given. All I can do is thank you from the bottom of my heart and soul and tell you this: 
because of you, and my seven days at Dream Street, I have rediscovered a person I had given up and sorely missed. I have become reacquainted with the body I had begun to hate. I have remembered all the motions of my childhood that have left me year by year.

It no longer causes me pain to think of my night-self, walking around, free of the illness that has weighted me down a bit more every day. I love this part of me in a way I have not been able to for so long. I will do my utmost to nurture it as best I can, for as long as possible. I have hope for my body again. And with that hope, in my dreams I walk. In my dreams I swim. In my dreams I dance.

Thank you.

Dream Street July 1998

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Dream Street at Canyon Ranch


Buoyed by the success of Camp Dream Street, founders Patty and Billy Grubman were determined to augment their camps to include teenagers and young adults afflicted with terminal, chronic and life-threatening illnesses. Dream Street at Canyon Ranch was created and funded by the Dream Street Foundation. Here, young people with serious illnesses are given the opportunity to briefly escape their complex lives and medical problems.

At the Canyon Ranch Resort near Tucson, Arizona, two groups come for one week every summer. Dream Street participants stay in the Gamble House, a separate building on the Ranch grounds, and receive the same posh treatment as paying guests: massages, yoga, tai chi lessons, swimming, tennis, strength and stretch workouts and other spa amenities.

Self-discovery is one of the goals of the camp. Topics are explored addressing the transition into adulthood and dealing with life’s challenges given the impediments of their diseases. Daily focus groups encourage all participants to share their innermost feelings and fears. Interactive workshops are conducted on nutrition, fitness, relationships, employment and self-image. The environment is conducive to sharing personal histories and a reciprocal exchange of emotional support and compassion under the leadership of guidance counselors, professional therapists, and medical staff. 

It is the mission of our volunteer counselors and staff to create a loving environment where young people can feel they have nothing to fear or hide. It is a place where young adults facing catastrophic disease take comfort in discovering and understanding their needs and aspirations. 

The founders of Canyon Ranch, Enid and Mel Zuckerman, generously donate the facilities and their staff to Dream Street. Camping sessions are free of charge to all campers ranging in age from eighteen to twenty-four.

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Personal Words from a Canyon Ranch Camper


Words cannot possibly explain how much this one week at Canyon Ranch has done for me. “Thank you” seems too common, too overused, to express my gratitude. How can two words encompass a lifetime’s worth of happiness, understanding, enjoyment, sadness, and spirit? You have given all of us an incredible and rare opportunity to truly belong--to fit in and feel at home at a time in our lives when that would seem overwhelmingly impossible.

I wish I could include you in just one day of my life--or that of anyone here. We arrived in Tucson, burdened with a week’s worth of luggage and a lifetime’s share of difficulty. Youth stolen and vision far-reaching, we wonder whether we could possibly have one week, one day and one moment even, to lift our heads and set down all the baggage that weighs on our shoulders. 

As we nervously smile at our fellow companions, an amazing thing occurs. Across the room, some brave soul reaches over, hand extended, while another glances to the left, eyes wide and comforting. Soon we are all joining in. Sometimes you can see it, but it is difficult for others to understand. Yet we all immediately recognize its beauty. We are reaching out to each other, attempting to share a small bit of everyone else’s load. Our burdens never disappear, yet we suddenly feel lighter, happier, and grateful. We are not a gathering of liver failures, amputees, oncology patients, unknown diseases, and victims. We are eighteen people dealing with life, death, illness, family, friendships--all of which have become much too intense and have forced us to leave behind the trivialities of youth. Despite all of our problems and fears, we find an utterly life-altering comfort in each other. We are not friends because we have the same disease or the same treatment or the same hospital. We are forever connected because we experience the same feelings and thoughts every day of our lives, and never fail in our ability to say “I know how you feel” in complete understanding. One tear running down each cheek, one heartfelt hand stroking a friend’s down-turned head are things that tie us together in an indestructible knot.

We all suffer. We all cry. We all want our diseases to fade into the Tucson sunset. But times like these remind us of what we have yet to gain. Sickness has brought indescribable sorrow, along with experiences we would never want to lose. This week has been one of those times when my illness has seemed a little less horrible. Whenever I think of the friends I have made and the lessons I have learned, I realize that there is a part of me that wouldn’t trade the experience of having cancer for anything.

I’ve loved my facial and await my incredible massage, but these are things that will fade in my memory over time. But the images of my friends’ smiling faces and heartfelt laughs are forever engraved in the core of my heart and the depths of my being. The weight that pushes on my shoulders remains, yet it somehow seems a little lighter, a bit easier to bear. I know that the brave and the beautiful people I have come to know this week will be walking the same path, ready and willing to help me when my burden seems too heavy.

So thank you. I can only hope that my words have adequately expressed the feelings of my heart.

With all my deepest gratitude.

Dream Street at Canyon Ranch, June 2003

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About Our Medical Staff


Behind the scenes at Camp Dream Street is a tireless staff of dedicated doctors and nurses who volunteer time from their personal summer vacations every year. Arriving days before the campers to set up their staff and equipment, this team of caring medical professionals ensures that every child’s experience is special and tailored to his or her individual needs.

The doctors and nurses spend days reviewing the children’s medical records and set up a 
24-hour infirmary at the camp. In addition to the infirmary, the medical staff is actively monitoring the various events and activities of the campers while at camp. Both the counselors and the medical staff supervise all activities planned for the children.

Children may receive chemotherapy or intravenous medicine, or be fed through tubes directly into their stomach. Such therapies are not possible at most summer camps. The entire medical staff at Dream Street is equipped and dedicated to enabling these special children to experience as normal a camp as possible, in spite of their malady.

Because the medical staff is sufficiently informed beforehand, they bond quickly with the children, forging both a personal and trusting relationship. They are an exceptional group of individuals, always ready with any size bandage or with unlimited amount of “TLC” twenty- four hours a day.

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About Our Camp Counselors


It is often asked, “What do I need to be a counselor at Camp Dream Street?” Some might assume you have to be good at swimming, archery, arts and craft, rock climbing, horseback riding, soccer, baseball, basketball, video games or dancing. The answer, however, is that you simply need an unlimited supply of selfless love. Every counselor has been interviewed and handpicked by the staff of Dream Street, who have run and managed the Camp for seventeen years, to ensure all campers are treated as if they were the counselors’ own children. 

For one week every summer the volunteer counselors of Camp Dream Street leave their work, family and the world behind to provide every camper with an unforgettable summer. Lawyers shed their suits and ties, firemen their boots and helmets, and Hollywood producers their lights and cameras--and they all join others volunteers for one special and treasured week.

Perhaps there is no better testament to the personal effect volunteering has on an individual than the fact that most of our counselors return year after year. The reward for volunteering as a counselor at Camp Dream Street is tough to put into words. There is no money, award or accolade, but there is the priceless gift of seeing the campers’ joy which they make possible. 

Kim Stillwell, a 34-year-old mother and a full time accountant, has been a camp counselor at Camp Dream Street since her early twenties. Kim has a personal affinity with the campers: at age 16 she was at camper herself. Kim was referred to Camp Dream Street by her hospital. She describes the camp as a life changing experience, helping make her the person she is today. Having survived cancer, Kim says camp was the only place she felt she could “fit in.” At Camp Dream Street she was given support from her counselors and peers and was never judged or viewed different. As a counselor, Kim cherishes the opportunity to give the children the same experience she had. Kim describes camp as a place where children with no normal childhood can come, fit in and enjoy being a child. In her words, “ My favorite part of camp is watching the children’s confidence grow while they are developing lifelong friendships and feeling special.”

Kim is a UCLA alumnus and enjoys water-skiing and playing tennis with her husband. She has traveled extensively, including a recent African safari.

“My favorite part of camp is watching the children’s confidence grow, 
developing lifelong friendships, and feeling special.”

Dave Rosenson is a 67-year-old practicing lawyer who has volunteered as a counselor since the summer of 1999. Dave found out about the Camp from one of the founders, Billy Grubman. “It is one of the most rewarding and satisfying experiences one can have in their life,” says Dave. “I have become more appreciative of life and motivated by seeing the strength the children have.”

Dave, a native of Los Angeles, is happily married, has two daughters, and loves to ski and play tennis. Aside from camp, Dave enjoys traveling abroad to experience and learn from other cultures.

Vito Chiechi, a 38-year-old fireman for the Pasadena Fire Department, has been a counselor at Camp Dream Street for eight consecutive years. Vito describes Camp as “a place to go where kids can forget their illnesses and play.” Through his Camp experiences, Vito has increased his appreciation for life and his family. When not working, Vito likes riding quad ATVs and going fishing. Vito’s favorite part of camp is the water fights. (Well, of course he loves water, he is a firefighter!)

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Contact Us

6399 Wilshire Blvd. Suite 721
Los Angeles, CA 90048
Office Number 323-951-1227
Fax Number 323-951-1233

Web address: dreamstreetfoundation.org

E-mail address: dreamstreetca@aol.com