After two years of virtual camp and video gatherings, the extraordinary community that is the Milton Marks Family Camp will be finally convening in person to provide an oasis of support, joy and healing for families who are struggling to cope with a parent’s brain tumor.

These past two years have been brutal for brain tumor families: amidst the pandemic, brain tumor patients and their caregiver spouses found it harder than ever to handle the demands of the illness while juggling the escalating needs of kids at home and the unexpected separation from loved ones. For kids, a sense of isolation—already heightened by their parent’s health challenge—has grown intense without contact with friends, in-person school, and activities. Our brain tumor families need community more than ever, as we have witnessed in our 2020 virtual camp, and 2021 virtual meet-ups and reunions.  

MMFC is proud to report that in April 2022, we will be returning to our in-person camp programs at Camp Newman. Our entire team of health providers, camp counselors, artists, body workers and musicians will be bringing families together again! 

Our return to camp comes in a year when we have already stepped up our support activities for families: in recent months we have been hosting regular online support groups for patients, caregivers, teens and younger kids; we held a weekend of virtual meet-ups in October, and are planning a virtual campfire reunion in mid-December. These activities have shown us how vital the MMFC community is, even when we cannot be physically together. And how necessary and healing our April camp will be. Staff and campers are so eager to be able to see each other’s smiling faces again in person, to give each other long-awaited hugs, to sing together around the campfire, and to be able to welcome the many newly diagnosed families on our camp waitlist into the circle of our community, and our support. 

We are asking you to support the work of MMFC as generously as you can with a tax-deductible gift. Your support goes directly to the services MMFC will be providing this year both to returning and new camper families. Here’s an example of the difference you can make:

• A $100 contribution provides a family and staff camp t-shirts 
• A $250 donation covers the stipend of a mental health provider or camp chaplain
• A $500 gift covers art supplies for our annual family art project 
• A $1,000 contribution underwrites our music program for 2022, providing curated playlists and singalongs specially prepared for camp by our talented team of musicians
• A $1500 donation funds a NEW FAMILY to be able to come to camp
• A $2,500 gift underwrites our annual portrait photography program

Gifts of any amount are deeply appreciated, so please give as generously as you can. Donations to MMFC are tax-deductible.

With many thanks for all you do to sustain our vital program,

Abigail Levinson Marks, Ph.D.

Co-Founder and Director

In 2010, Milton Marks III was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor and he, along with his wife and three young sons, began a two-year journey that profoundly changed their lives. Over the course of his lifetime, Milton was recognized as a civic and community leader and it is in the memory of his passion to help others that his wife Abigail began a mission to better understand and meet the needs of brain tumor patients and their families. Her vision evolved into a camp where families living with brain cancer can come together and find respite in a holistic environment. Together, with members of the UCSF Neuro-Oncology medical and nursing teams, and others interested in improving the quality of life of brain tumor patients and their families, Abby's vision became a reality. Since its inception in Fall 2014, thirty families have attended the Milton Marks Family Camp; some families have attended multiple times.

The Milton Marks Neuro-Oncology Family Camp is under the fiscal sponsorship of  Community Initiatives, a 501(c)3 non-profit.