• Special Love Board of Directors Announces New Executive Director
  • December 8 12:00pm - December 8 3:00pm
    Holiday Party
  • January 17 - January 20
    Special Love’s Winter Weekend

Programs for

About Us

“The hospitals saved my son’s life, but Special Love saved his soul.”



Special Love provides a strong, nurturing environment for children with cancer and their families through its free camps and getaway weekends, emergency financial assistance, virtual programs, and educational scholarships for young adults who have beaten cancer and now want to move on with their lives.

Camp Fantastic, our cornerstone program for 7-17 year-old cancer patients, is considered a protocol within the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and has made Special Love a recognized National Institutes of Health (NIH) charity.

Since our inception in 1983, children have come to Special Love from the Washington metropolitan area and from all across the country thanks to our partnership with the NIH and other area hospitals.

Each year, Special Love serves hundreds of children, teens, and young adults ages birth to 25 years old and their families.

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Patients

Camps/Programs

Every year, Special Love welcomes hundreds of pediatric cancer patients, ages 7 to 17, to our camps and adventure programs. Each one provides time away from the hospital and its strict schedules, as well as the pain and isolation that come with cancer treatment. Programs are designed to provide a place to laugh, play, share with new and old friends, and even take a few healthy risks. A place where they can just be kids.

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Siblings

Camps/Programs

BRASS is designed specifically for the siblings of pediatric cancer patients, as well as bereaved siblings. BRASS offers them a place for open, honest dialog with other campers and counselors to ensure they too are enveloped in a strong support system where they can put the family trauma of cancer away to spend time being a kid, In an environment where the focus is completely on them. The importance BRASS plays in the siblings’ lives is significant; so much so that most camp counselors, as well as counselors-in-training, are former BRASS campers themselves.

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Family

Camps/Programs

Quality family time is one of the hardest things for a family to find when their child has cancer. They need that time to reconnect as a family, share some fun and laughter, and strengthen their bond during a stressful time. Special Love’s family programs are designed to do just that, by hosting opportunities throughout the year.

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Next Program

Holiday Party

  • December 8 12:00pm - December 8 3:00pm
  • Pearl Street Warehouse

Special Love’s annual Holiday Party is a kick-off for our families to what we hope will be a great holiday season. It’s also a chance thank our wonderful donors and […]

Upcoming Programs

Jan 17 2025

Special Love’s Winter Weekend

  • January 17 - January 20
  • Canaan Valley Resort and Conference Center

Join us for Winter Weekend! Open to families of patients and survivors who are 17-and-under and on or within 5 years of treatment, as well as bereaved families. Patients and […]


Mar 21 2025

BRASS Weekend

  • March 21 - March 23
  • Northern Virginia 4-H Educational and Conference Center



All Programs

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