Issue link: https://alabamapower.uberflip.com/i/818529
42 New Facility Helps Camp Smile-A-Mile Serve More Families Since 1985, Camp Smile-A-Mile has helped bring together children with cancer and their families. Each year, the organization holds seven camp sessions at facilities provided by Children's Harbor for pediatric cancer patients, survivors and their families. The camp provides recreational and educational programming, with sessions tailored for specific groups, such as youths, teens, new graduates and young adults. There are even designated sibling camps and camps for on- and off- therapy families. Since 2012, Camp Smile-A-Mile has also conducted a hospital outreach program, which lets the organization take camp to the kids who are too sick to leave the hospital. In 2016, the camp served more than 600 patients and their family members through these outreach efforts. With support from several funders, including the Alabama Power Foundation, Camp Smile-A-Mile was able to construct a new building: Smile-A-Mile Place. The new facility, completed in December 2016, is still close to Children's of Alabama. Not only is the new Smile-A-Mile Place within walking distance of the hospital, but it is also visible from the hematology/oncology floor where inpatient children can look out the window and see it. "Helping people form connections is really the bread and buer of what we do," said Savannah Lanier, Camp Smile- A-Mile's development director. From patients to parents to siblings to survivors, Camp Smile-A-Mile gives them all the space to come together and find support. "We bring people together so they can lean on each other," she said. "We provide the opportunities for parents, siblings and patients to relate with one another and to connect." Health & Human Services Number of patients and families served by Camp Smile-A-Mile's outreach efforts in 2016 600

