The renowned actor’s hide-out for kids with serious illnesses offers a different kind of healing.
You can debate the placement of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid among Hollywood’s greatest westerns, but few films can match its remarkable legacy. Besides winning four Academy Awards and earning a spot among the American Film Institute’s 100 Greatest Movies, it inspired Robert Redford to create the Sundance Film Festival and costar Paul Newman to found the Hole in the Wall Gang Camp.
This year, the Connecticut hide-out Newman started in 1988 to provide “a different kind of healing” for seriously ill children celebrates its 25th anniversary. And while Newman himself is sadly not here to join the salute, his spirit and personality can still be felt.
“Mr. Newman was heavily involved not only as a board member but was also up at the camp frequently during the summers showing the campers what ‘raising a little hell’ was all about,” recalls Ryan Thompson, the camp’s senior development officer. “Whether he was fishing with the kids down at the pond or dancing with them in the dining hall, he was truly a kindred spirit.”
The yearlong festivities began with a music video featuring Natalie Merchant and Hole in the Wall Gang campers; Merchant got a group of campers to sing along with her on her song “Wonder” and produced the track to celebrate the anniversary. A birthday party for campers and volunteers past and present is scheduled for May, followed by a benefit gala on September 30 in New York City.
“I wish I could recall with clarity the impulse that compelled me to help bring this camp into being,” Paul Newman once said. “I’d be pleased if I could announce a motive of lofty purpose. ... I wanted, I think, to acknowledge Luck; the chance of it, the benevolence of it in my life, and the brutality of it in the lives of others, made especially savage for children because they may not be allowed the good fortune of a lifetime to correct it.”
The Hole in the Wall Gang Camp served 288 campers in 1988; this year it will bring its fun and friendship to 20,000 children and family members at more than 20 locations throughout the Northeast — all free of charge. holeinthewallgang.org
Photography: Courtesy The Hole in the Wall Gang Camp.
From the May/June 2013 issue.
