Volunteers from The SAAGNY Foundation, located in Woodcliff Lake, N.J., spent Wednesday, July 18 at Happiness is Camping in Blairstown, N.J. This is the 12th year that the foundation volunteers participated in the camp’s annual “Pirates Day” festivities.
Volunteers dress up as pirates, distribute goodie bags filled with custom items donated by many of the promotional products industry’s leading vendors, and always look to bring a special surprise. This year, the foundation brought a photo booth to the event.
For SAAGNY, this is a signature event among many and one of their most highly anticipated. Eric Rackoff, account manager for Northeast/tri-state for Staples Promotional Products, a member of the SAAGNY board of directors and the chair of the Happiness is Camping event for the 4th year, said “For me, running the event is very personal. Having lost a sister and brother to cancer when they were kids, over 40 years ago, I do this in their memory. I was also taught by my father to ‘give back,’ especially to children.”
Jessie L Tyson, camp director said, “Our kids look forward to the SAAGNY Pirates Day every year-it’s always a favorite day! The compassion and generosity of the SAAGNY volunteers makes for a memorable treat long after the summer has drawn to a close.”
The following promotional products industry companies donated to the event:
Aakron Rule
American Ad Bag
Ariel Premium Supply
Blue Monster
California Tattoos
CleggPromo
Galaxy Balloons
Jetline
Jornik Manufacturing
Maple Ridge Farms
National Premium
Pro Towels
Sports Products
Sweda Company LLC
Tekweld
Originally founded in 1980, Happiness is Camping provides a total of 400 girls and boys ages 6 to 15 with a free overnight camping experience that varies in time depending on their health. The camp supported by donations and is staffed by volunteers. The medical staff of doctors and nurses come from Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, Montefiore and other fine local facilities that provide medical supervision of the highest quality for kids requiring chemotherapy, children at risk of bleeding and infection or with significant physical disabilities. Happiness Is Camping has the simple mission of looking to have every participating child say “That was the best week of my life!”
For more information, go to www.saagny.org.
