MasterCraft Dealers & Athletes Help Children’s Cancer Camps
MasterCraft Dealers & Athletes Help Children’s Cancer Camps
Vonore, TN – It’s been a fun-filled summer for a few kind-hearted MasterCraft dealers, athletes and hundreds of kids with cancer.
Over the last few months MasterCraft of Charlotte, Portland Ski Boat Center, Travis Marine, the University of Tennessee Ski Team, Tournament Team Coordinator, Ray Crenshaw, MasterCraft employees and many others, have been reaching out to camps for kids with cancer, providing tubes, boats and lots of smiles.
“Helping these kids has been a really rewarding experience and it’s a natural fit for MasterCraft dealers,” says MasterCraft spokesperson Casey Quilter. “Who knows more about having fun on the water than MasterCraft? We help the community by doing what we do best.”
Camps like Camp CARE in North Carolina, Camp Millennium in Oregon, Camp Happy Days in South Carolina and Camp Eagle’s Nest in Tennessee, help hundreds of cancer patients every year to escape sterile hospitals, get back to life and just be kids. They sleep in cabins, make arts and crafts, do skits, play volleyball, swim, play and tube to their heart’s content.
“We feel that with everything they’re going through, camp gives these kids a rainbow to focus on during their treatment,” said Kay Gustafson, a 13-year camp counselor and activities director at Camp CARE. “They love having fun and making new friends.”
In spite of their treatments, therapies and prescriptions, these courageous kids charge the wakes.
“I like going fast over the waves,” said a 9-year-old named Autumn.
“It was my first time tubing,” said Anahi. “I want to keep doing it. It was fun. I’d never been in a boat before.”
“I like seeing people, making new friends and going to the lake to tube,” said Alex. “You could tell I wanted to do it over and over again. I tubed 3 times in one day!”
In addition to riding and tubing, lots of kids get to sit behind the wheel. For many of them, steering the boat and revving the engine is as exciting as clutching onto a bouncing donut, shrieking at the top of their lungs.
“We had a lot of fun with the kids,” said Crenshaw, a dedicated MasterCraft driver. “We made a lot of them happy.”
Some MasterCraft sponsored professional skiers and wakeboarders, like two-time World Wakeboard Champion, Maeghan Major, and pro-wakeboarder, Laura Lohrmann, even donate their time to do exhibitions for the kids, since few of them have ever scene anyone wakeboard or ski.
It’s a positive experience for the kids and MasterCraft boat drivers that re-affirms the joy of boating and impassions children with the same love of water sports that has touched us all.
Later this year, MasterCraft of Arizona, Kentucky Boat Works and Portland Ski Boat Center will support camps for kids with cancer in other parts of the nation. MasterCraft hopes to continue to grow the number of camps the company and its dealers support each summer.
MasterCraft is the world’s largest producer of inboard and V-drive water ski, wakeboard and luxury performance powerboats. Located in Vonore, Tennessee, tours of our 300,000-square-foot facility are not just available to the press, they are encouraged. For more information, high- and low-res digital images or 35mm running and detail shots, please contact Casey Quilter at 423-884-2221, ext.1205. Or, visit our website at www.mastercraft.com.
