Camp Rainbow Gold Expands Facilities Ahead of 2024 Season

BOISE, ID (CBS2) — There was a total of six ribbon cuttings today at Camp Rainbow Gold near Fairfield, Idaho, where camp staff and managers celebrated the ahead-of-schedule opening of six new housing facilities, a medical shack, and much more.

"It's a great day today, a year ago we broke ground on all these buildings and thought, 'sure, we'll be able to do all that in a year," Stacey Gehlken, a member of the camp's board of directors said with a sarcastic laugh. "And here we are, one year later, with six A-D-A accessible cabins, new infrastructure, heating and plumbing, a new open-air amphitheater, and a medical facility."

All of these new openings made possible by volunteers and donations, Gehlken said, and reaching completion years ahead of schedule -- allowing the camp to consider expanding immediately.

"We're really here to celebrate today," Elizabeth Lizberg, the CEO of Camp Rainbow Gold said. "Previously, we had to turn kids away because of our capacity, we hope that won't be an issue more... and now with the medical shack, everyone knows where it is, the kids can come get their medicine, see a nurse, and immediately get back into the fun."

Rainbow Gold hosts campers who are either currently battling or have battled cancer in the past -- as well as their siblings, giving them an opportunity to experience a "traditional" summer camp experience. Leaders of the camp hope expansions like the one completed today could help the camp accommodate more kinds of special needs.

It's that attention to detail that keeps some campers coming, Reese Barker, a camper and volunteer said.

She explained she'd been attending the camp for ten years and would soon be aging out -- though that wouldn't be the end of her time at Rainbow Gold, she said she intends to volunteer there going forward.

"I found a family here, everybody knows what you're going through, and you can all relate. It's also a lot of fun," Barker said.

All in all, Rainbow Gold estimates more than 30% of campers return later in life as volunteers, camp counselors, or donors, keeping the traditions of the camp alive through generations of young people.

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