Local teen goes to Summer Camp

Fifteen-year-old Josef Pevsner of Massapequa Park, recently attended Camp Wonder, a medically staffed summer camp for children with serious and fatal skin diseases. Camp Wonder, which is free of charge to children with skin diseases, is funded by the Children's Skin Disease Foundation (CSDF) and provides 80 children a year the chance to attend camp.

Pevsner, who suffers with severe Eczema, was sponsored by Stiefel Laboratories' Oak Hill, New York, facility. Stiefel is a major supporter of CSDF and Camp Wonder.

For Josef and many other children who suffer with skin diseases, their time at Camp Wonder is one of the few chances they have to feel like other kids and to participate in camp activities (fishing, rock-climbing, sports, etc.), to go swimming, and to wear short sleeves without having to constantly hear whispers from strangers.

Pevsner said, "This is one week of the year where no one is pointing and staring at you, when no one has a mean thought because of how you look. You make friends who understand what you feel like, and what you are going through."

Shown in the photo are Josef Pevsner and 11-year-old, EJ Carfi of Ridgefield, Connecticut who also attends Camp Wonder.