North and South Carolina credit unions have never forgotten those seriously ill youngsters at Victory Junction Gang Camp, one of the legacies of the late Hollywood actor Paul Newman.
This week the CUs through the Carolinas Credit Union Foundation picked up the tab for 70 youngsters attending the camp in Randleman, N.C. as part of an ongoing pledge to support the facility which during the summers houses children suffering cancer and other life-threatening diseases.
Since 2004, the foundation, supported by the North and South Carolina Credit Union Leagues, has contributed $2 million and helped construct new facilities on the campus in Randleman, which is also the home of the Petty family of NASCAR fame.
CUs remain the largest non-NASCAR donor to Victory Junction.
"From the very beginning, credit unions in North and South Carolina have had a very special bond with Victory Junction," said Foundation President/CEO John Slack. "Times are tough and money is tight for all of us, but good times or bad this is money well spent."
Some 40 CU executives representing nearly half a dozen CUs convened on the VJGC on Sunday to greet new campers as they arrived for the week. The CU staffers held signs and cheered as they waved to passing vans and cars. The youngsters come as far away as Kansas and Wisconsin to take part in a week of summer fun as a means to take their minds off their illnesses.
The camp, along with similar facilities across the U.S., have been funded by Newman family members and others associated with the "Hole in the Wall" camp in Ashford, Conn. and through the Association of Hole in the Wall Camps.
