It was 2011 when Ed Burke, after going through his own cancer treatment, Ed Burke first heard about Camp Ukandu from his then Chemo Pal’s parents.

“His mom mentioned he went to Camp Ukandu and that, in the last year of his life, it was the best week of his life. He was bald and had one leg and at Camp Ukandu he was just a kid - no one treated him differently. I loved [him] so much and if this Camp could do this for [him] I wanted to be involved,” said Ed. 

So that’s exactly what he did and that Summer, Ed made it out to Camp Ukandu. He chose the camp name ‘Yogi’ and he jumped right into a week of outrageous, exhausting, fun.

“It was just great to get to know those kids. I remember on the last day, walking away from Camp, I was just exhausted but I was already planning the next year. I was so challenged by the group of people in this circle I remember just thinking ‘how did i get in here? This is just such an amazing group of people.”

In 2019, after seven years of continued volunteering, Ed was asked if he wanted to join the Leadership Team for planning the inaugural Ukandu Family Camp.

 “I loved the idea of expanding what we do. Camp Ukandu is so amazing but we’re limited by age and capacity so at Ukandu Family Camp we could add people and expand to parents and younger kids and I really wanted to be a part of that.”

After two years of delays due to COVID-19, Ukandu Family Camp finally came to fruition, in 2022. “We’d been waiting so long and Covid pushed everything so when campers finally rolled in and we went to that first campfire it was just a relief. It was so powerful to see that sense of community for the whole family,” Ed says about that first year of Ukandu Family Camp. 

2023 marked Ed’s ninth year of volunteering with Ukandu. From camp programs to fundraising events, you can count on Ed to be there and we are so thankful to have him as a part of this big, wacky, Ukandu Family. 

“It’s a privilege to be a part of this team and something I don’t take for granted at all. And I love doing it. We see so much negative stuff in the world these days and this is such an incredible group of people coming together - how can that not inspire you.” 

If you'd like to join Ukandu's volunteer community or you want to learn more - click here.