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In 1988, Paul Newman envisioned a place where children living with illness wouldn’t be seen as sick kids. He dreamed of a safe camp where these children and teenagers could explore, play, and misbehave just like their healthy peers. This vision led to the creation of the SeriousFun Children’s Network, a global alliance of camps, of which Bátor Tábor is a proud member. Over the past 36 years, SeriousFun camps and outreach programs have provided more than 2 million healing experiences to children and their families worldwide.

Paul Newman instinctively understood what children facing illness truly need: Positive Childhood Experiences (PCEs)—joyful, meaningful moments of childhood. Research confirms that these experiences, where children feel safe, cared for, and truly seen, have a measurable positive impact on their healing, well-being, and overall quality of life. They also help counteract the negative emotions (fear, anxiety) caused by illness.

As a Central European center for therapeutic recreation, Bátor Tábor is proud to be part of this global movement of kindness and to carry forward Paul Newman’s legacy every single day.

Simon Detti takes over the regional leadership of Bátor Tábor after 26 years of experience in advertising agencies and on the client side. Until December, she will be working alongside CEO Tamás Knecht until December.

The new leader previously worked as a consultant, marketing director, strategic planner, and client relations director. For the past nine years, she was responsible for the business results and operational efficiency of the DDB Advertising Agency. She managed brands such as McDonald’s, Magyar Telekom, Auchan, and Törley. In addition to his business career, she was a member of the Ronald McDonald Foundation’s board for three years.

‘Although I loved agency life and am particularly proud of the many local and international successes we achieved with DDB, it was never a question for me that I wanted to join the cause represented by Bátor Tábor and its dedicated team. As one of the most professionally run foundations in Hungary, we use therapeutical recreation to help children and families struggling with serious and chronic illnesses—there’s nothing more inspiring or uplifting that I can imagine. As a parent, I also believe this sets a good example for my pre-teen son.’

‘Visiting the camp and seeing the happy children and the super-enthusiastic volunteers was a source of energy for me. My favorite moment was with a little girl on the first day of camp, standing next to me at the evening camp dance. Since I didn’t know the choreography, she said, “I see you’re new, come, I’ll show you!” She was right: I am new, and now I’m learning.'”


For the second time we have produced our Sustainability Report, the result of a collaboration between our Foundation and Planet Fanatics’ Network Ltd. Our aim is to provide an overview of our sustainability goals and achievements to date. The Bátor Tábor Foundation remains committed to achieving climate neutrality by 2030.


We have been working for 23 years to create social value on a non-profit basis. Every year, our programs help more and more children and families who are struggling with serious or chronic illness. In recent years, we have developed new programs, including camps, schools, hospitals and online spaces to support children with illness and their communities. We believe that sustainability goes hand in hand with value creation.

As a leading organisation in Hungarian NGO sector, we focus not only on social sustainability but also on reducing our environmental impact. That is why we committed to protecting the environment in our first Sustainability Report. Climate protection is a key focus of our environmental objectives adopted in 2022: we have set ourselves the ambitious goal of making Bátor Tábor Foundation carbon neutral by 2030.

To this end, we have committed ourselves

We are committed to further reducing our carbon emissions,
To achieve this goal, we will reduce our carbon footprint by 2030,
increasing the energy efficiency of our properties,
improve the operation of our vehicle fleet

Our positive impact on environmental sustainability is already visible in the short term: compared to 2019, we have managed to halve the organisation’s GHG emissions from nearly 40 tonnes CO2e to 18 tonnes CO2e. Meanwhile, our programs – with the new programstructure – reach twice as many children, parents, siblings and classmates as in 2019.

The Foundation’s activities contribute to several of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). We are a key contributor to the Health and Wellbeing (SDG 3) and Reducing Inequalities (SDG 10) goals, both improving the mental wellbeing of society and contributing to reducing inequalities. We will promote a culture of giving and volunteering, which will foster social solidarity and redistribution of wealth in our country – without which there is no equality of opportunity.

To achieve the sustainability goals we have set ourselves

In 2023, the children’s shelters and the main building of the camp will be equipped with a new solar system,
and the solar panels in the programme building and the volunteer shelters have been renovated,
From 2022, we will also use our own renewable energy production at our campsite in Hatvan, which covered the energy needs of our Budapest office in 2023,
We are also continuously reviewing our activities to take further steps to make our operations more sustainable.

If you would like to read our second Sustainability Report in Hungarian, please click here.

This summer, we are inviting seriously or chronically ill children, teenagers, and their family members to 4 camp sessions. Among these, the Sibling Camp and the International Family Camp promise to be particularly special.

Traditionally, we have held 4-day Sibling Camps in the spring, where children affected by illness bring their healthy siblings. Unfortunately, due to economic challenges, we haven’t been able to organize this type of camp for the past two years. However, we believe it is crucial to have a camp session focused on building sibling relationships. Prolonged, serious illness often weakens or complicates this special bond. For example, siblings might not see each other for extended periods during hospital treatments, or the disruption in family dynamics might result in less attention for the healthier siblings. Therefore, in the summer of 2024, we will be holding a Sibling Camp: in our third summer camp session at the end of July, children and teenagers living with illness will come together with their siblings.

In early August, we will be welcoming Czech and Slovak families. In our session organized in collaboration with our international co-foundations (Czech and Slovak Spolu s odvahou), which is slightly shorter than the 6-day camps exclusively for children, not only will campers come from Czechia and Slovakia, but there will also be volunteers who do not speak Hungarian. Thus, the working languages of the session will be both Hungarian and English. Our international camps have repeatedly proven that play and laughter are the strongest universal languages – and we know this time will be no different!

Curious about the fantastic camp mood? Click here for the latest pictures!

In our latest short film, our campers share what Bátor Tábor means to them. They explain how our free therapeutic recreational programs have helped them and their children face the fears caused by illness with even more courage, or how they’ve learned to accept living with a lifelong illness while staying strong and being kids.

“Bátor Tábor is a gate to a better world,” they say, and that’s exactly what we are working towards. Would you like to be part of our mission? It only takes 2 minutes until May 21st! Donate 1% of your tax to Bátor Tábor so that we can provide even more soul-healing experiences for seriously or chronically ill children and their families!

Bátor Tábor provides unforgattable experiences, a new family, a countless smiles and friendship for children and teenager who lives with a chronic or serious illness. On the programs of Bátor Tábor no one feels like an outsider, everyone is equally valuable, and families affected by illness are not alone. We not only shape a week in the lives of children but also forever change it, empowering them to believe that anything is possible.

Children diagnosed with severe, chronic illnesses face many challenges. They spend months in the hospital isolated from their families and friends. However, through Brave Camp’s free programs, they find strength for healing and confidence for life. Each year, they help over 3,000 sick children and their families! Your support is needed to continue their work so that more seriously ill children can experience healing moments!

We need your support in our mission: don’t forget to offef tor Bátor Tábor the 1% of your personal income tax. The deadline this year is: 21th May!

You can read more (in Hungarian) about how to donate 1% of your taxes here.

In 2023, a total of 5,340 individuals participated in the programs of Bátor Tábor (or our Slovak and Czech foundation, Spolu s Odvahou). Across the camp, classrooms, hospitals, online, or other offline programs not held at the camp, we provided a total of 40,624 therapeutic hours for seriously or chronically ill children, their families, classmates, and families who have lost their children.

Of these more than 5,000 participants, 3,605 took part in programs in Hungary. In Slovakia, 753, in the Czech Republic, 101, and in Poland, we provided courage and soul-healing experiences to 473 individuals through our free therapeutical programs.

Our School Outrech Program has been launched in Slovakia and the Czech Republic as well. Our GO! program also brings the power of play and laughter to the bravest ones next to the hospital beds in Szeged.

Our Breavement Camp turned 10 years old. In this special type of camp, moments of joy and sorrow go hand in hand. In addition to the usual programs, trained grief therapists support families who have lost their children to illness, accidents, or the perinatal period.

Of course, this year we also held all our programs with our volunteers: in 2023, exactly 653 enthusiastic and trained Cimborás – in a total of 4 countries. Their commitment is shown by the fact that on average, each volunteer participated in programs three times in 2023.

But more than the numbers, the children and parents tell us:

Would you like to help provide soul-healing experiences to as many seriously and chronically ill children as possible in 2024? Check out how you can support our work!

The volunteers of the GO! Hospital Outreach Program don’t rest even between Christmas and New Year’s. We don’t forget about those children who don’t spend Christmas, the winter break at home, so even at the very end of December in Budapest, they bring joy, play, and experience to hospitals.

Unfortunately, every year there are children who spend the holiday season in their hospital beds. They can’t go home to eagerly unwrap presents with their families. They don’t help with baking gingerbread cookies, don’t decorate trees, don’t gather around the Advent wreath this year. However, the GO! Companions bring play, experience, and smiles to hospitals before Christmas and between the two holidays, and something even more important: a piece of our community, a slice of Bátor Tábor. We believe that especially during this time, it’s crucial to make the power of togetherness and support felt. Because childhood, and holidays are everyone’s right!

I have never seen my kids happier as here, in the camp.

When I think about Bátor Tábor, it makes me feel strong, powerful emotions what are locked in my heart forever. At the end of the Family Camp, I felt, that I have to think through my life: I love my job, but here I learnt, that I can act like a kid sometimes, and it is totally OK 🙂 I learnt, how I can play or be present in my kids’ life calmly – without thinking about the illness and stressing out. I have experienced that I should pay attention to others more. That I am not alone. I can be truly happy and be happy for others successes and achievements. I can laugh together with strangers.

We, as a family have received such experiences what we never could elsewhere.

I am grateful that I have had the opportunity to meet the wonderful volunteers of Bátor Tábor. I will never forget them. They changed my life and, with all of my heart I wish them every joy what can be experienced.

n the United States, there is a much deeper culture of camping, and accordingly, its regulation is also stronger. Since Bátor Tábor is a member of the American Serious Fun Children’s Network, they have revised this regulation and extended it to international camps, including ours. Compliance with this regulation is an essential condition for our membership in the American Camp Association.

Previously, we had to undergo the inspection every 3 years, but since 2016, it has been extended to every 5 years – because before that, we performed at such a high level that we were moved to a higher category. The inspection covers everything: programs, health regulations, communication with campers and volunteers, volunteer application and selection process, camp equipment and buildings, suppliers, contracts.

The inspection consisted of two steps: first, in the spring, we had to fill out a questionnaire with 266 questions and upload all necessary documents – if I remember correctly, exactly 158! In June, a 2-person inspection committee visited the camp to check the site, programs, and ask any further questions they had.

We fully complied with the mandatory regulations, and our overall evaluation was 98%, with only 3 minor areas mentioned where improvements were suggested, but none of these affect the safety of the camp, campers, or programs. They mainly concern cultural differences, such as the emphasis on prohibiting weapon use towards campers in American camps.

Scoring 98% (and completing the mandatory regulations 100%) means that we met all these criteria, everything was found in order with our programs. They also highlighted 5 different areas that impressed them:

It was a very dear moment for me when they arrived. At the beginning, there was a discussion with Tamás Knecht, our CEO, and me about the inspection in general. Kelly and the others immediately highlighted that everything was generally fine, and although there are mandatory areas to inspect, they mainly want to enjoy the day and experience the professionalism they saw in the submitted documents. Throughout the day, they were very open and curious, not only about the camp but the entire organization.

They mentioned several times that they were asking us further questions not necessarily related to the inspection, but out of their own curiosity or interest, because they really enjoyed what they experienced with us.

When they arrived, they also shared that the day before, they went to a restaurant for dinner to prepare for the next day. The waiter overheard that they were from Bátor Tábor – I think it was one of our volunteers – and joined their conversation. They were completely amazed that we are so well-known and wherever they go, they encounter someone who is somehow connected to us.

After 22 years, Péter Küllői, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Bátor Tábor Foundation, hands over the presidency to two other Trustees.

Kamilla Hermann will take over as chairman and Balázs Báthory as vice-chairman in the Board of Trustees. Both of them have a long-standing commitment to the Foundation, thus ensuring continuity in our operating principles.

The management of Bátor Tábor, which makes the professional decisions and develops strategy, does not change; and neither does our mission.

We are grateful to Peter for his support in the past 22 years. It is thanks to his visionary leadership and mentoring that Bátor Tábor has become a professional, high-impact, independent and transparent organisation.

You can read Peter’s personal farewell note here.

Bátor Tábor, the Camp of Courage has more than 20 years of experience in preserving and developing mental health. 

Its influence reaches far and wide: it is no longer now just within the gates of the camp that the Camp provides life-changing experiences for children with serious chronic diseases and their family members. But, it also helps them recover in hospital and reintegrate into school. A new platform will be launched again in May.

The online programs were made available to everyone during the pandemic which was followed in 2021 by the Above the Clouds podcast, those episodes dealt with topics that concern us all – for example, inner peace, preserving our strength in difficult situations, or overcoming external and internal obstacles, and nurturing our human relationships.

The professional success and listenership of the podcast proved that there is a great need for a podcast about mental health and that the Bátor Tábor Foundation needs to use its expertise in the field of mental health care, in the wider society. That is why we are launching an online magazine called Above the Clouds, a platform where mental health experts meet, and their aim is to reach as many people as possible with the foundation’s message and idealism.

According to a WHO survey, 4.6% of 15-19 year olds suffer from anxiety disorders. Hungary is particularly affected by the rise of depression, for example, according to a domestic research, every tenth person is faced with mental health problems that make it difficult to perform everyday tasks. And according to a 2022 British survey, 84% of parents believe that their child’s mental problems have also increased in recent years. “The situation is similar at home, after the pandemic, the number of children and families requiring psychological help has increased significantly,” highlights Dorka Kocsis, psychologist at Bátor Tábor.  

“In the concept of health, diseases are not the only thing that can harm us, but also it can be physical, social, and mental well-being,” says Dorka Kocsis. “The experience of meaningfulness in life, satisfaction, and self-expression are all part of mental health, just as they are conditions for our wellbeing, and our physical and social well-being,” she adds.

“The extension and accessibility of the Bátor Tábor’s ideology has been a long-standing concern for us,” says Tamás Knecht, the executive director. “We want to improve the lives of readers and the state of society by sharing everything that the Camp of Courage team has learned from seriously ill children and how we help their healing through our free camp, hospital, or online programs. Moreover, in addition to personal life, the role of mental health is increasingly important in workplaces, and it is important for companies that their employees are well. Everyone needs a little Bátor Tábor.”

In the magazine “Above the Clouds,” we explore multiple topics related to mental health each week. On this new platform, the Bátor Tábor approach is accessible to everyone, based on the experiences of children, volunteers, and parents in our programs: how to find and maintain strength in difficult situations, how to turn to each other. And the title speaks for itself, as the sun always shines above the clouds!

The “Above the Clouds” magazine was made possible by the support of Abercrombie & Fitch.

Don’t just plan for a year, think long-term!

Why is planning for your long term future more beneficial than just planning for one year? You can read about it in more detail in one of our previous articles, but the essence is that you help yourself a lot more if you think ahead for 3 or even 5 years instead of just 365 days! By doing so, you’ll be able to formulate a more accurate and realistic goal for one year. Moreover, according to the suggestion of coach Gábor Cséffalvay, it’s worth outlining our entire life journey because we can draw a lot of inspiration from our past for our future!

Set realistic goals and break them down into steps!

Bikini body in a month? Running a marathon from scratch? Going vegan overnight for a meat lover? Some people succeed with drastic changes, but if you’re not part of that lucky group based on your experiences, feel free to break down your ultimate goal into smaller steps. It may turn out in time that it’s not realistic to complete a full marathon within a year, so instead, prepare happily and confidently for a relaxed half-marathon! When it comes to changing lifestyles, then start with meatless Mondays, then add one meat-free day per week (and so on). If you have time to adapt to the changes, it’s much more likely that you’ll stick with them in the long run, and you won’t have to suffer!

Find what motivates you in your resolution!

In order to stick to your resolution even in the hectic everyday life, it’s not enough to have a large goal in mind. You also need to know exactly why this goal is important to you. What is your personal motivation, and your mission? For those embarking on a diet, they are more successful if they change their eating habits not for the sake of the scale and an idealized dream body, but to live a longer and healthier life. Even Incorporating exercise can also be motivated by charity: if you prepare for that first half-marathon as a member of the “Élménykülönítmény,” you’ll be more eager to put on your running shoes even on gloomy Mondays!

Be patient with yourself!

One bad habit of modern humans is always wanting everything immediately and perfectly. It’s time to remind yourself that you’re not a robot and can’t handle everything at once, and you can’t perform flawlessly all the time. Instead of beating yourself up, realize that mistakes are not failures but part of our development! And most importantly, don’t forget to celebrate your “small” successes! Couldn’t run to catch the bus last year, but now you can run 2 km in February? Did you eat fresh vegetables with every meal this week? Your fundraising campaign is already at 20%? They all deserve a pat on the back!

Choose a goal (or goals) that also helps others!

You have probably heard that charity and volunteering not only change the lives of those who receive help but also the lives of people who help. Supporters, volunteers, and donors of the Bátor Tábor can confirm that giving to them is also a life-changing experience! Going to bed knowing that you made the world a slightly better place today is a completely different feeling. Give it a try and provide courage to seriously ill children through volunteering, regular donations, or fundraising! We guarantee that you will notice: the sun always shines above the clouds!

Inhaling. Liberated joy. A new momentum. In addition to numerous adventures, new challenges, and the power of a community of friends, and parents these are many of the things people experience in the Family Camps. They are happy – and we are very proud of them! – that they allowed themselves, dared themselves, these few days. The few days when they could break away from the daily grind, step out of their comfort zone, so that their sick child, healthy siblings, and themselves, as parents, could gain a new strength to keep on fighting, and bravely confront the difficulties that they face in life. We have gathered some energizing thoughts from parents who participated in the Family Camp.

The camp was special because…

We could be carefree together, and recharge.

The Brave Camp is like…

Being in the camp as an adult…

We are proud of ourselves because…

Since 1996, the International Day of Tolerance has been celebrated on November 16, initiated by UNESCO. Its main goal is to draw attention to the dangers of intolerance and promote non-violence within the school environment. However, understanding and attention are also greatly needed in our everyday relationships. Dorka Kocsis, a psychologist from the Bátor Tábor Foundation, offers five simple but proven tips on how to be more understanding and patient with our own difficulties and how to provide emotional support to others.

There are many factors that influence how we handle stressful and challenging situations. It’s not just the level of mental stress and our previous experiences that matter, but also our current physical and mental state. Emotional regulation plays a significant role in how we react and how we influence our environment. It enables us to adapt to the world around us by indicating that we can influence and control our emotions. Our feelings, thoughts, and physical sensations are closely interconnected and mutually influence each other. Striving for understanding and sincere communication forms the basis of successful human relationships. However, amidst the hectic demands of everyday life, it can be challenging to remain constantly aware of this. The International Day of Tolerance reminds us to pay closer attention to others and ourselves.

Take care of ourselves!

Taking care of ourselves also plays a significant role in our openness towards others. When we are tired or after a stressful day, even the slightest novelty or obstacle becomes difficult to handle. Shifting perspectives and looking at things from different angles requires considerable mental resources, as our physical condition influences our emotions. Physical and mental rest, whether it is active (releasing tension) or passive (recharging), is an important step towards achieving a more balanced emotional state.

Ask questions boldly!

Ask questions to ourselves and others. Through internal dialogues, we can answer why certain things affect us sensitively and what bothers us. However, it’s better not to understand the other party’s perspective in a one-sided dialogue; involve them in the conversation and establish a connection. Understanding and changing perspectives can help transform stereotypes and ingrained beliefs.

Acquire knowledge!

If something is difficult for us to tolerate, let’s learn about it and gain a better understanding. Whether it’s a phenomenon, external stimulus, or situation, watching movies, reading, or becoming neutral observers in specific situations these can all help. Our thoughts and cognition also influence our emotions.

Engage in conversations!

Engage in conversations with acquaintances and friends who can better help us cope with what is challenging for us to accept. Learn from them, observe or ask them what helps them cope. It’s easier to deal with a situation when there is someone we can look up to as an example. Have conversations with friends with whom we can share our feelings and dilemmas with, allowing our internal struggles to be expressed. Learning about opinions different from our own can broaden our horizons and break free from habitual thinking and emotional processes.

Meet in person!

Maintaining distance and avoiding interactions can protect us from tension, but it may not help change our perspective. A meeting, closer contact, or shared activity can provide an opportunity to seek similarities instead of differences and understand the other person’s viewpoint.

Since 2001, the Bátor Tábor Foundation has provided healing experiences to over 15,000 seriously and chronically ill children and their families. Through the methodology and tools of adventure therapy, they bring the carefree nature of childhood not only to camps but also to the schools and hospitals as well.

As the first among Hungarian nonprofits, we have issued a sustainability report.

The Bátor Tábor Foundation has prepared its first Sustainability Report in full compliance with the global reporting standard (GRI). The Foundation has set a goal to achieve climate neutrality in its operations by 2030 through energy modernization, efficiency improvement, reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, and fuel consumption. A significant part of the Foundation’s emissions is attributed to the energy consumption of the campsite complex in Hatvan, amounting to 28.6 tons of CO2e in 2021, representing the annual emissions of Bátor Tábor.

In addition to its important social mission and its history of ethical and transparent operations, the Bátor Tábor Foundation is increasingly focused on the environmental aspect of sustainability. In 2021, a shortened ESG assessment was conducted to examine the sustainability of their operations based on environmental, social, and corporate governance criteria. As the next step, the organization prepared its first Sustainability Report in 2022, with the assistance of Planet Fanatics’ Network Ltd. The data calculations were based on the Greenhouse Gas Protocol, following international expectations. This resulted in the Sustainability Report covering the data from 2019 to 2021.

“As one of the influential foundations in Hungarian social life, we consider it our duty to serve as a good example to society by making our operations sustainable. We carry out our work, focused on providing assistance to children and their supporters, ethically, as fair employers, and on sustainable financial grounds. It is inspiring to see not only the quantified environmental impact but also to commit to clear and forward-looking goals such as achieving zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2030,” expressed Erna Kindli, the CEO of the Bátor Tábor Foundation, emphasizing the milestone’s significance.

The Bátor Tábor Foundation has excelled in two aspects of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for decades, namely Health and Well-being (SDG3) and Reduced Inequalities (SDG10). Over the past 20 years, the Foundation has provided courage through its programs to more than 15,000 children and their family members battling cancer or other serious chronic illnesses, who still consider Bátor Tábor the most positively impactful environment in their lives. In addition to supporting the mental well-being of society, the Foundation also promotes a culture of giving and volunteering, contributing to the strengthening of social solidarity. Beyond the therapeutic camps, they also facilitate the integration of severely and chronically ill children into communities, as well as the development of healthy interpersonal relationships and social skills through hospital, online, and school programs.

“We collaborated with the Bátor Tábor Foundation in this form for the first time two years ago when they participated in our Sustainability Day online event. Last year, we conducted their simplified ESG assessment and calculated their GHG inventory. We highly value the cause represented by Bátor Tábor and the Foundation’s way of operating, and the challenge of preparing a report for a nonprofit organization based on the GRI used by companies was so unique that there was no question whether we would embark on it,” said Katalin Szomolányi, CEO of Planet Fanatics’ Network Ltd., about the cooperation.

To achieve the set sustainability goals, in 2021, the Bátor Tábor Foundation installed solar panels on their program building at the campsite in Hatvan, which was completed a few years ago. They also carried out the comprehensive replacement of boilers and maintenance of windows and doors. Since a significant portion of their emissions comes from electricity consumption, they place particular emphasis on measures aimed at achieving higher efficiency in the future. To reduce their indirect emissions, they plan to decrease the energy demand of their properties by 2030, and to avoid these emissions, they will increase their solar energy capacity. In order to reduce fuel consumption, they have been organizing carpooling tables for volunteers and staff for several years to optimize per capita fuel consumption. Additionally, they have set tasks for the modernization of their vehicle fleet and the acquisition of electric vehicles. The combination of solar energy supply and electric vehicles is important not only for reducing emissions but also for reducing dependence on external pressures and ensuring continuous operation.

The Bátor Tábor Foundation believes that civil organizations should follow the progressive models of the business sector, and sustainability is an area that affects everyone, regardless of the sector, and everyone has a responsibility to contribute. This is why they considered it important to take another step towards sustainable development.

The Bátor Tábor Foundation’s Sustainability Report can be downloaded in Hungarian from this link.

The Élménykülönítmény was born in 2011 as the charitable athletes’ community of Bátor Tábor. Throughout the 11-year history of the purple-shirted participants, they have transformed the lives of seriously ill children and their families by collecting nearly 285,000,000 Hungarian forints in donations, with more than 2,500 charitable athletes. However, from now on, besides donating kilometers, you can join the purple-shirted team with any hobby!

Are you the best carrot cake baker in the countryside? Have you been planning a home concert for a long time? Would you celebrate the next X? Would you make your special day memorable for sick children?

Turn your hobby into charity, join the Élménykülönítmény!

More than 2,200 Alumni Take Part in American Institutes for Research In-Depth Study for Non-Profit’s Largest Outcomes Study 

SeriousFun Children’s Network (SeriousFun), a non-profit which provides exceptional camp, in-hospital, and at-home programs for kids living with serious illnesses and their families, recently partnered with the American Institute for Research® (AIR®) to conduct a first-of-its-kind study that examined the influence and lasting impact of residential camp participation for alumni campers of SeriousFun camps around the world. Alumni campers from Bátor Tábor were among the study’s participants. Bátor Tábor which operates in Czechia, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia, has been a part of the SeriousFun Children’s Network since 2007. The study explored personal, social, and health-related outcomes that are influenced by SeriousFun camps; elements of the camp and camper’s experiences that affect those outcomes; and whether outcomes were affected by frequency of attendance or demographic characteristics of attendees.  

SeriousFun, founded by legendary actor and philanthropist Paul Newman, is made up of Bátor Tábor, along with 29 other camps and programs around the world that help children living with serious medical conditions and their families reach beyond illness to discover joy, confidence, and new possibilities. SeriousFun is the only organization of its kind to serve children living with more than 50 medical conditions – including cancer, blood disorders, immunological conditions, neurological conditions, and more. Through camps like Bátor Tábor children and families have the opportunity to escape the everyday demands of hospital visits, doctor appointments, and treatments to experience an unparalleled opportunity for belonging and accomplishment.  

Study data were gathered between January and March 2021 through online surveys administered to SeriousFun alumni, who reported their outcomes and the extent to which they attributed these outcomes to participation in SeriousFun camps. More than 2,200 SeriousFun alumni, ranging in ages from 17-30, from 16 camps and eight countries (France, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, United Kingdom, and United States) took part in the survey, the largest study ever carried out by SeriousFun Children’s Network.  

More than 80% of total alumni reported that their SeriousFun camp experience played a major role in their development of lasting outcomes, which they used in their everyday adolescent and adult lives including: 

According to the study, all types of campers, representing diverse demographic backgrounds, benefitted from their experience at SeriousFun. Demographic characteristics, including race/ethnicity, age, education, gender, employment status, and medical diagnosis, had little to no bearing on the perceptions of alumni about the influence of camp on outcomes. 

About Serious Fun’s Network 

SeriousFun Children’s Network is a global community of 30 camps and programs serving children with serious illnesses and their families, always free of charge. Following the founding of The Hole in the Wall Gang Camp by Paul Newman in 1988, he and other like-hearted individuals opened similar camps around the world, ultimately joining together to form SeriousFun Children’s Network. Thanks to a shared vision and collective contributions, the Network has evolved to become the leader in the field of medical specialty camps, delivering more than 1.4 million life-changing experiences to children and families from more than 50 countries. Each member camp is an independent, not-for-profit organization dependent upon private funding to serve all children at no cost to their families. To learn more about SeriousFun, visit www.seriousfun.org. 

We launched in April our Digital home camp, aiming to help children fighting chronical diseases through online, interactive games to alleviate the mental challenges of increased isolation over the past months. The online camp continued growing in May and opened its gates to broader society through sessions organized for families and adults. This summer, the program culminates with the launch of a microsite, an online knowledge bank gathering a repertoir of games, ideas based on our therapeutical recreation methodology.

„If our brave kids cannot come to our camp, we go to their homes” – sounds the epic insight moving the online camps forward. Bátor Tábor helps near 3000 ill children and their families through camp and hospital programs on a yearly basis. It was obvious for us to rethink and reorganize our activities inmediately to support those children who could not attend spring and summer camps cancelled due to the pandemic.

„Since April we had over 600 participants in our online in Hungary, Slovakia, Czech and Poland. We arranged the sessions on a weekly basis and now we reached a new milestone: with the launch of our website we will be able to help and share our expertise further. Bátor Tábor has been supporting the mental health of ill children and their families for 19 years, these days the psychological burdens we are facing have proven to be heavy for all of us. In response to this, we gather useful games for both children and adults, we show our methodology and share regularly inspirations that can be useful for pedagogical purposes too” – says Julianna Vargyas-Tóth, a Bátor Tábor’s program development expert.

The basis of the site is the camp’s map, where we can wander around virtually and find contents in different topics, a joyful ride for all ages.

Besides this wonderful online journey, the registration stays open for the Digital home camps, where participants can connect and gain fun experiences in their garden, their room or even during their vacation.

The realization of these online programs would have not been possible without the help of our volunteers and donors. We thank the technical development of this platform to IBM and the support of Boston Scientific  and Wiener Städtische Versicherungsverein who played a major role in our international digital camp dreams coming true!

What happens to us from psychological point of view?

In psychological sense, the current situation is a crisis, which means that we cannot avoid nor solve this situation with our existing coping mechanisms. For this reason, numerous negative emotions are revolving in us, such as anxiety, uncertainty, fear, hopelessness or sadness. This situation evokes the experience of loss on several layers in all of us since temporarily we lose our future plans, the possibility of personal interactions, our recreational opportunities or even our financial security. That is why, we constantly recalculate and we have to accommodate to the actual often daily changing conditions. Besides this, we all have relatives and friends who are at higher risks to infections and whom we are especially worried about. We have to ’manage’ all these psychological challenges under circumstances we have never been in before, often in closure or solitude we have never experienced before. So what can we do to manage it as well as possible and to be able to preserve our mental and psychological balance?

Let’s start with ourselves!

The word ’crisis’ derives from Greek and the Hungarian meaning of it is ’opportunity, decision’. Regarding ourselves, it means that even in the present situation, I have the opportunity to decide how I react to the given situation. I can choose to take the best advantage of the opportunities brought by the maximum time spent at home: I can devote more time for my hobby, I can dive into a good book, I can improve my knowledge of a foreign language, I can improve my cooking expertise, I can try a new form of recreation or I can talk long hours with my friends living abroad. Whatever I decide, I can gain from these things and they can help to give some meaning to this period in the short and long run. By pondering about these things, we can ask questions if later reflecting upon this period of our life how we would be content with ourselves. How can I devote this period of my life to improving myself? What sense of achievement can I reach in the present? In what aspects can I personally improve having all these new experiences? There are thousands of reactions to these assumptions, but whatever answers we find, we can be sure that with the help of awareness, we will be able to overcome the most difficult times of our life.

How to satisfy our basic needs?

Physiological needs

Build up a daily routine, a stable and reliable system that can ’hold’ you on more difficult days. We should try to establish a daily rhythm and pay attention to healthy diet and regular exercise. We should separate as much as possible – even with introducing rituals – the time spent with home office working and free time activities. Establish the proper ’place and time’ for all these activities.

Social needs

Be in contact with others, talk about ourselves, and listen to other views. Even though, we have to give up personal encounters for a while, in the online world we can keep up our usual ’appointments’ that have characterised our everyday life beforehand. As an impact of isolation, our need to connect to others may intensify above the average, thus this is a good opportunity to establish the habit of taking coffee breaks together, evening cookings and long talks with our family members. These activities may help us experience something from the joys of ’normal’ everyday life.

Emotional needs

In the present situation, it can happen that new emotional needs intensify that have not been significant before, for example, I need more my family’s reassurance or enthusiastic remembering of the good times with my friends. These are natural reactions that is why it is important to devote some time to observing the waves of my own emotions and to make efforts to keep these emotions in the right channel. For instance, what impacts does it have on my fears if I keep reading articles about the disease all day long? How do I feel after I have offered my assistance to the lady next door? What emotions can I recognise in myself after calling some of my rarely seen older relatives?

Connections within our surroundings

Home isolation imposes different challenges to people who live alone, in a relationship, or to those who live together with several generations.

People living alone

People living on their own may often feel loneliness and they can experience the responsibility of entirely relying on themselves. In this situation, it is crucial to establish a stable and regular form of communication with others and to appoint a dedicated time to online discussions. This situation may offer the opportunity to make our communication with others more frequent and intense. Through online ’face-to-face’ discussions, we can better understand others’ feelings, thoughts, and through this ourselves as well.

People living in a relationship

Couples living together may find themselves in an unprecedented situation as most of us have not spent more than a few days’ time so ’close’ with the other yet. This extreme closeness often entails emotional distancing since we have no choice if we wish to be close to the other or not. That is the reason why, it is important to establish straightforward rules concerning managing our daily living together and managing time. It is also crucial to share every day chores and to assign areas of responsibility. We all need different amount of time spending on our own, thus it is worth proactively discussing the scope and possibilities of it. On the other hand, the wisdom of the saying ’living together is how we get to know each other’ is especially appropriate for this situation as I can get to know some new sides of my partner and get a realistic picture of how my partner handles emotionally tense times. This common experience and all the effort we make together offer an opportunity to deepen our relationship.

Generations living together

When talking about generations living together in this situation, we can observe similar motives as in the case of couples living together. The constantly rising closeness, isolation, growing tensions, and leaving behind our old habits – that meant safety and recreation – can all increase mental frustration that may lead to the deepening of conflicts. Kids follow their parents’ attitude – seeing through their parents’ eyes – and react to the changed situation accordingly, which may enhance the actual anxiety and tension of the whole family. As kids are expressing their fears in different ways, for example, by disobeying or showing concentration difficulties, parents are advised to react with increased comprehension and acceptance. How can we help our kids in this situation?

Safety and acceptance are basic needs for all children because these necessities ensure the development of their personality and skills. It is worthwhile talking about the current situation in a way appropriate for the children’s understanding and taking seriously the questions they may have and also dissolving the fears emerging in their fantasies. In order to establish safety, it is crucial to keep the daily routine, to proportion the timing of activities and to keep time and space for common and individual activities as well. It is vital for the kids as well to keep in touch with their peers, which may require the cooperation of their parents. Because of the new situation, new habits and more flexible frames can be set up and the hidden resources of the family system may emerge. This is an enormous opportunity for the children to take over the adaptive forms of coping with crisis situations from their parents. Moreover, they can acquire new skills and means. The family cooperation, the mutual responsibility taking for each other, and the experience of ’we can struggle with all these difficulties together’ can become such an essential experience they can always remember in the future as well and it can represent resources for them.

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Én minden egyes pillanatot, percet, másodpercet és órát magammal akarok vinni! A barátokról a csodaszép emlékeket, a leküzdött félelmeket és minden kalandot és kimondott kedves szót. Az egész tábor életem legemlékezetesebb és legboldogabb hete volt.

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Balázs, 17 éves

Én minden egyes pillanatot, percet, másodpercet és órát magammal akarok vinni! A barátokról a csodaszép emlékeket, a leküzdött félelmeket és minden kalandot és kimondott kedves szót.

Balázs, 17 éves

Én minden egyes pillanatot, percet, másodpercet és órát magammal akarok vinni! A barátokról a csodaszép emlékeket, a leküzdött félelmeket és minden kalandot és kimondott kedves szót. Az egész tábor életem legemlékezetesebb és legboldogabb hete volt.

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