Dreaming Big

Nov 1, 2008

Camp Dreamcatcher was founded to help children infected and affected by HIV/AIDS. This year's camp T-shirts were sponsored by Russell Corp. and Brother Intl.

A week of swimming, basketball, paddleboats, miniature golf, go-carts and cultural shows sounds like a typical summer camp. But life at Camp Dreamcatcher is anything but typical. More than 12 years ago, the camp was founded to provide safe, supportive, therapeutic and educational services to children infected and affected by HIV/AIDS, as well as their families.

This year, Russell Corp., Bowling Green, Ky., Brother Intl., Bridgewater, N.J., and Sandpiper Embroidery, Wildwood Crest, N.J., joined forces to create T-shirts for the camp, held Aug. 17-23. For the past nine years, Sandpiper has solicited donations of jackets, sweats and T-shirts from industry suppliers for the camp's 170 campers and 180 volunteers.

Sandpiper, which has 22 embroidery heads and had always outsourced screen printing jobs, recently added a Brother direct-to-garment printer. Before the company added the printer, "there were always customers that we just couldn't service — small businesses that wanted a dozen or less shirts with the large coverage area that screen printing provides," says owner Ginny Fineberg. "For this year's camp shirts, we thought it would be a good opportunity to use our new garment printer."

Sandpiper art director Kathy Ostrander developed a full-front design that reads, "The Property of Camp Dreamcatcher." "For the back of the shirt, we included the Jerzees (a division of Russell Corp.) and Brother logos, as well as the logo of the documentary 'Tiny Tears,'" says Ostrander.

"Tiny Tears," by Robert Corna, was filmed in 2007 and tells the stories of children living with HIV/AIDS in orphanages in Thailand, Uganda and Brazil. To tell the story of American children living with the same diseases, Corna filmed at Camp Dreamcatcher.

Sandpiper employee Cindy Fineberg printed the 350 garments in about three days. "The printer worked flawlessly," she says. "It's the largest job we've done to date, and there were no problems."

Camp Dreamcatcher has been connected to Impressions for the past eight years through the memory of Carl Piazza, former editor of the publication from 1982 until his death in 1994. He requested that donations in his honor be given to a children's AIDS charity. Camp Dreamcatcher has received $12,000 in Piazza's memory.

For more information, visit campdreamcatcher.org. — H.H.

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