It’s been a very big year for children’s charity Country Hope, which supports regional children diagnosed with cancer or other life-threatening illnesses.

At its recent Annual General Meeting, held on November 25, it was revealed that the organisation had assisted 119 individual regional families in the past year: 49 in Albury region, 32 in Wagga region, 25 in Dubbo region and 13 in Griffith region.

A 59 per cent increase in spending in client and family services in the 2024-2025 Financial Year to $475,595, reflects the rising demand for Country Hope’s specialised services and the enhanced level of support the organisation provides to regional families.

Locally, two important milestones have been achieved this year. The very first child from Dubbo attended Country Hope’s “Time Out for Life Camp” in September, with Dubbo local Kaylene Green also joining the activity as the first local volunteer “camp buddy”.

The 62-year-old nurse first became involved with Country Hope about 18 months ago, she told Dubbo Photo News.

“It involves being the buddy for, in my case, a little girl from Dubbo,” Kaylene said of her work with Country Hope.

“Almost all of the kids that go to the camp have a one-on-one buddy. My little girl was eight years old,” she explained.

For privacy reasons, Dubbo Photo News won’t name Kaylene’s camp charge. We’ll call her Miss A.

So what was camp like for participants and camp buddies, we asked Kaylene.

“This year we were at Bowman’s Creek in Victoria, in the snow, which was wonderful,” she said, adding that the Time Out For Life Camp was all about engaging the kids so they could forget about their situations and medical treatment for a little while.

“You know, they can be normal kids where they don't have to think about their medications or their schedules or hospitals or doctors or anything like that,” she added.

While the camp runs a tight schedule, participants could choose from a variety of indoor and outdoor activities on offer including arts and crafts, cards and other games, archery, camp cooking, wall climbing, and a giant swing. Evening activities included a disco, movie night and themed Winter Wonderland evening.

Kaylene described the camp as a “full-on five days” which all the children and their buddies enjoyed immensely.

“Most of the kids have never seen snow, and [the camp organisers] took us up to the snow fields for a day,” she explained.

“The kids got tobogganing and Miss A’s Fitbit showed she walked 18,000 steps that day, because she’d just run up the hill and toboggan back down again. And they all had an amazing time. I loved seeing the joy on their faces,” she added.

A nurse for 42 years, Kaylene works part time for Dubbo Area Nursing Service (DANS), and is looking forward to continuing her volunteering with Country Hope.

“I've been involved with people with life threatening illnesses my whole career. I get what they are going through and how important it is to be able to support people through this,” Kaylene said.

“It's hugely expensive to have a child in Sydney having treatment, sometimes for months, maybe years. All the travel and accommodation expenses are just added pressures that families don’t need.

“Country Hope helps alleviate some of that pressure in a small way,” she added, indicating she is looking forward to volunteering at next year’s Time Out For Life Camp.

For further information about becoming a volunteer camp buddy like Kaylene, contact Country Hope.