San Francisco Chronicle - July 27, 2001
Justino Aguila, Chronicle Staff Writer

"Camp was fun," Dillon said while playing video games in his home in Forestville in Sonoma County. "I got to swim, do art and eat. But my favorite part was swimming."

That is good news to Elaine Taylor, founder of the Taylor Family Foundation, who aggressively and carefully created the camp for children with life- threatening illnesses and troubled youth. Camp Arroyo, which is a quarter-mile southeast of the Del Valle Reservoir, was dedicated in May and recently hosted its first camp for children who are HIV-positive or have AIDS.

"All I want is that these kids have the opportunity to be just kids," said Taylor, 48. "When they're at camp, I want them to forget about their illnesses.

They come here for support. They can honor the kind of person they are and have the freedom to be children. There's hope here."

By the end of the summer, nearly 500 children will have passed through the camp.

"This place is about freedom and hope," Taylor said. "To see those smiles and children having a wonderful time means everything. This is for them."

Camp participants have plenty to choose from: a 3,500-square-foot pool, three playing meadows, basketball and volleyball courts, an art center, a ropes course and a rock-climbing wall.

Built on 138 acres, Camp Arroyo offers 144 beds, 12 cabins, a 7,500-square- foot dining hall, a clinic, large bathrooms and a 9,000-square-foot terrace. It has a phone system, washers and dryers and kitchen facilities with a staff serving three meals daily.

The camp was built with sensitivity to the environment. Dirt dug out for the pool was used in constructing the buildings; bathroom and shower stalls were made from recycled yogurt containers, and recycled glass tile was used for the bathroom walls.

The almost $10 million used to create the camp came from private donations, state funding and bond measures.

"It was a lot more than what I expected," Taylor said, "but it's the reality."

Running the camp each summer will cost about $200,000. During the school year, the camp will be used for a pilot science-education program for 300 Bay Area students, which will cost about $25,000 a week to operate. A fund-raiser on Aug. 26 called Day in the Park will help cover operating expenses.

Taylor, who lives in Danville, plans to continue her fund-raising efforts to finish sections of the camp and fund clinical programs at the University of California at San Francisco and Children's Hospital Oakland.

For 10 years Taylor has been working with children with AIDS and raising money for clinical and social programs.

One person who has long admired Taylor's fund-raising efforts is Deborah Scheer, 51, Dillon's adoptive mother.

Scheer has been on the Sonoma County AIDS Commission for more than 2 years, and Dillon has been attending camps since he was 6. When Scheer found out about Camp Arroyo, she was thrilled that Taylor was devoting her time to building a haven for children and their families.

"It was all about blood, sweat and tears to make this work," said Scheer, who is on the Sonoma County AIDS Commission. "Elaine is amazing. She had a dream, and she started going for it. A few years later, it was done."

Scheer said camps such as this one are special because they allow the children to talk with their peers about difficult topics such as death and have them understand. Last year, Scheer recalled, a 12-year-old girl's mother died while she was at camp.

Camp counselors broke the news of her mother's death to the girl as gently as they could and then they gave her a chance to seek support from other campers. Those camping, including Dillon, gathered and made a circle. Each one of them were told what had happened. The children then hugged their friend in mourning and offered their love.

"When Dillon found out, he was so upset," said a tearful Scheer. "He went up to her and told her he would eat lunch with her and stay with her as long as she needed. He was crying so hard."

Camp is a good way to receive support when dealing with life-threatening issues, said Van Metaxas, a Bay Area family therapist.

"Camp provides a fresh way to experience emotional issues such as coming to terms with a life-threatening illness or dealing with a sick parent," Metaxas said. "It's a deep kind of emotional recognition that's really essential for self-esteem and coming to terms with who a person is as they get older."
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