Playing games for a good cause

For the fourth year in a row, the Island Park Jewish Center is hosting a game night to benefit worthy causes in the local community and beyond. The fourth annual game night will take place at the Jewish Center, 191 Long Beach Road, at 7:30 p.m. on Jan. 23. Proceeds from this year's benefit will go to the synagogue and to Paul Newman's Hole in the Wall Gang Camp, which provides free weekend and summer camp programs for seriously ill children.

The camp, which takes its name from the hiding place in Newman's film "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid," is located in Connecticut. Each year, it provides services to thousands of children nationwide, including camping experiences, and, for children too sick to visit the camp, in-hospital visits. The camp has specialized facilities that allow it to offer activities like swimming, fishing, horseback riding and other outdoor activities to children with cancer, sickle-cell anemia, HIV/AIDs, and other serious illnesses. Doctors, nurses, and other medical staff are also on hand for the campers.

Joan Cohen, an Island Park resident who is working to organize the local fundraiser at the Jewish Center, has personally witnessed the difference the camp has made in young people's lives. Her daughter, Hope, and her son, Adam, have both attended the camp. Adam, 29, was born with Hunter Syndrome, a metabolic disorder that affects his joints, hearing, respiratory, and cardiovascular systems. He attended the camp for six years as a camper, and made his way up to a volunteer counselor. "It's an absolutely wonderful, incredible place," Joan said of the camp. "It really turned his life around. It made a huge impact." Joan and Hope, 25, also volunteer at the camp.