Camp Winning Hands Provides Place for Kids and Teens to Reach for the Stars

The mission of Camp Winning Hands is to provide a safe camping experience where kids can focus on being at camp and doing typical camp activities, without having to worry about explaining their hand differences.

Many campers are Shriners Children’s patients who have congenital hand and upper limb differences, including missing arms, hands or fingers; webbed or fused fingers; extra fingers; undergrowth or overgrowth of hand parts, and constriction band syndrome.

Shriners Children’s Northern California organizes this unique camp in partnership with UC San Francisco (UCSF) Benioff Children’s Hospital every summer. The Taylor Family Foundation generously hosts the camp, set in the beautiful rolling hills at Camp Arroyo in Livermore, California. The campgrounds are an oasis.

“The collaboration between Shriners Children’s and UCSF Benioff Children’s that allows us to give so many kids an amazing summer is truly a gift that follows these kids long after camp. The skills they learn here are truly life-changing,” said Ginny Gibson, OTR, CHT, Camp Winning Hands director and occupational therapist at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital.

Several Camp Winning Hands counselors and volunteers donate their time each summer to give children a memorable, confidence-boosting experience with their peers. Junior and adult counselors, many of whom have hand differences themselves, serve as role models to support campers and their families.

“The intent was to create a safe space for kids with hand differences, so they could be together and try new things they may not have otherwise, in a supportive environment,” said Michelle James, M.D., one of Camp Winning Hands' founders and former chief of orthopedics at Shriners Children’s Northern California. “It ended up exceeding all of our expectations.”

Campers between the ages of 7 and 17 participate in various camp activities organized by pediatric hand care teams. Campers participate in rock climbing, archery, swimming, roasting s’mores, nature walks, zip lining and more! Besides your typical camp activities, campers also take part in group activities such as “teen talks,” designed to give kids a safe space to ask questions and share their experiences with their peers who are living with similar conditions.

“I look forward to this camp every year,” said 14-year-old Renata. “My favorite part of camp is teen talk, because other people give me advice on how to not let your physical difference affect you, and how you can learn to be more open with other people and explain that you can do anything.”

Camp Winning Hands supports parents and guardians by providing a wider network of families with children who have hand and limb differences. Returning parents share information and resources, and offer support to parents of new campers.

“Camp Winning Hands is such a special place,” said former Shriners Children’s Northern California patient and occupational therapist Sarah Tuberty. "This is the first time many of our campers feel 100% comfortable in their own skin because it's such a supportive and loving environment, and this is their first time not being ‘the one kid’ with a hand difference. There’s something so powerful about finding a community where you can be completely at ease with your differences.”