LSU Health New Orleans Medical Students Raise Funds for Camp Tiger at Benefit Auction

LSU Health New Orleans Camp Tiger Benefit Auction - the major fund-raiser supporting the free, week-long summer day camp for children with special needs in the metropolitan New Orleans and Baton Rouge communities - is on Friday, March 29, 2019, from 7:00 - 11:00 p.m., at Club XLIV- Champions Square (on Lasalle Street adjacent to the Mercedes-Benz Superdome). Camp Tiger is planned, organized, staffed, and funded by the efforts of first-year students at LSU Health New Orleans School of Medicine. The students’ fund-raising efforts underwrite the cost of the camp, so it remains free to campers and their families. All proceeds go directly to running LSU Health New Orleans Camp Tiger.

For a donation of $65 per person, the evening promises to be full of fun and bargains with food donated by local restaurants including Ralph’s on the Park, Fleming’s, Causeway Bar and Grill and Ferelli’s Poboys, among others. Dance to the music of the Rockenbraughs, whose members include Dr. Dan Nuss, Professor and Chairman of ENT-Head and Neck Surgery at LSU Health New Orleans. The 610 Stompers will also perform.

Spectacular silent and live auctions will feature a host of fun and useful items. Up for bid will be vacation packages including trips to Telluride, Tuscany, and New York City, original works by local artists such as George Rodrigue and Ashley Longshore, restaurant gift certificates, jewelry, signed sports memorabilia from Drew Brees and Alvin Kamara and so much more. It's a great place to shop for birthday, holiday, anniversary or other gifts as well as splurging for yourself while helping to make a unique and meaningful outreach program possible.

While adjusting to their first year of medical school, LSU Health New Orleans medical students plan the Camp Tiger Benefit Auction, solicit donations including the evening's food offerings and hundreds of auction items, book the location, hire the entertainment, and set up, staff, and tear down the event. At the same time, they are planning and making all of the arrangements for this year's LSU Health New Orleans Camp Tiger, which will be May 20-24, 2019.

LSU Health New Orleans medical students volunteer their time to be counselors and staff for the camp. The ratio of counselors to campers is 2:1. About 130 campers are expected to participate this year. The registration deadline for Camp Tiger 2019 is April 1, 2019.

LSU Health New Orleans Camp Tiger was founded in 1985 by first-year students from the LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans School of Medicine. Its mission is to give mentally and physically challenged children an enjoyable summer camp experience. For the campers, this may be their only chance to socialize with other children without being singled out for their disabilities. This week-long day camp lets campers be “just one of the kids” and provides them with the freedom to play, socialize, and express themselves as healthy, vibrant children. Since its inception, LSU Health New Orleans Camp Tiger has benefitted more than 2,000 children from the Greater New Orleans and Baton Rouge areas.

LSU's medical students look forward to the opportunity to work with these exceptional children and serve the community. Besides continuing the LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans tradition of community outreach, Camp Tiger gives first-year and incoming first-year LSU Health New Orleans medical students an opportunity to begin to understand and work with some of the medical conditions they may encounter during their professional careers.

For more information about Camp Tiger and the fundraiser auction, or to purchase tickets, please visit www.lsuhsc.edu/orgs/camptiger.