Our Story
A legacy of healing, belonging, and adventure.
More than four decades of camp, community, and possibility.
A Place to Belong
Camp is part of the healing journey.
No Ordinary Camps exists so young burn survivors and their families have a place to heal, grow, and belong. Our programs combine the joy and challenge of camp with medical knowledge, psychosocial support, peer connection, and intentional youth development.
Burn injuries can change a child's life long after hospital discharge. Children receive excellent care in hospitals and clinics, but many need continued support as they navigate school, friendships, family life, and the everyday work of growing up. Camp offers peers who understand, a safe place to practice independence, and encouragement to see themselves beyond their injury.
At camp, belonging is not a slogan. Campers feel it around the table, on the trail, in the cabin, on the mountain, and in conversations with people who understand the courage it takes to keep going. For many, camp becomes part of their story for life.
Where It Began
A first-of-its-kind camp, built from a bold idea.
The Burn Camps Program began in 1983 when Marion Doctor, a social worker at Children's Hospital Colorado, imagined a place where young burn survivors could come together and continue healing. At the time, there were no examples to follow. With the support of people who believed in her vision, Marion helped create the first residential burn camp in the United States.
What began as a one-week summer camp serving 20 young burn survivors grew into a continuum of rehabilitative camp experiences designed to support children, teens, young adults, and families across different stages of recovery and development.
For more than four decades, campers have built independence, resilience, friendship, and hope through these experiences. Marion's vision lives on in every camper, family, staff member, volunteer, medical provider, and partner who has been changed by camp.
Our Model
Built around the whole child.
No Ordinary Camps carries forward a model that integrates quality camp programming with medical and psychosocial care.
Our programs are developed around campers' needs, with activities that create natural opportunities for challenge, reflection, connection, and growth.
Campers are supported by professional camp staff, medical providers specializing in burn care, professionals from referring burn units, firefighters, volunteers, and adult burn survivors who bring firsthand understanding and mentorship. Staff train together before campers arrive so each program is safe, consistent, challenging, and deeply supportive.
Each camper arrives with a unique story, needs, and goals. We collaborate with families and referring burn units to support each child's growth, including social confidence, body image, self-reliance, positive risk-taking, and the ability to move through challenges with others.
- Quality camp programming
- Medical knowledge and care
- Psychosocial support
- Peer connection
- Intentional youth development
Becoming No Ordinary Camps
The next chapter of a lasting legacy.
- 1983
The Burn Camps Program begins as The Children's Hospital Burn Camp.
- 2011
The program continues as the Children's Hospital Colorado Burn Camps Program.
- 2026
No Ordinary Camps becomes an independent 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.
After a strategic review of camp programming, Children's Hospital Colorado and camp leadership worked together throughout 2025 to determine how the Burn Camps Program could best serve young burn survivors and families into the future. The shared goal was to honor everything that had been built while creating a structure that could grow with the needs of the community.
In 2026, No Ordinary Camps was created as an independent 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization to carry this legacy forward. This transition gives the program greater flexibility to strengthen funding, expand partnerships, and preserve the people, programs, values, and medical collaboration that have always made camp special.
The transition marks a beginning, not an end. The heart of camp remains unchanged: the same mission, the same core programs, the same commitment to medical and emotional safety, and the same belief in what campers can become when they are surrounded by courage, care, and community.
What Camp Makes Possible
Confidence that travels far beyond camp.
Through adventure, reflection, mentorship, and friendship, campers practice independence, strengthen social skills, and discover what they are capable of. They carry those lessons home, to school, and into the future.
“Today could quite possibly be the greatest day of your life.”
Alec Rhodes, Board President and longtime camp counselor
Carry the Legacy Forward
Help make these experiences possible.
Your support helps young burn survivors and their families find healing, adventure, and lifelong community at no cost.
Inclusion & Belonging
Every camper deserves to feel safe, known, and included.
No Ordinary Camps welcomes and affirms young burn survivors of every race, ethnicity, religion, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, language background, socioeconomic background, family structure, and life experience. Every camper deserves to feel safe, known, respected, and fully included.
At camp, belonging is something we practice through care, curiosity, respect, and shared responsibility. Our staff and volunteers work to protect each camper's dignity, help them participate fully, and create space to build friendships, express themselves, and be seen beyond their injury.