Really Awesome Times (R.A.T., Inc) is a 501 (c) (3) non-profit organization dedicated to providing free recreational, respite and other support programs to HIV-infected youth and their families. We are currently the only organization in the local Washington, D.C. /Baltimore metropolitan area that provides family-based recreational camping opportunities for children and adolescents
infected and affected by HIV/AIDS.
How We Got Our Name
In 1993, Bernadette—a Washington DC area nine-year- old known to everyone as Bernie—was diagnosed with AIDS. Bernie’s family was unprepared for this devastating news and the demands that accompanied her illness. The difficult experiences of this family motivated them, with the help of their medical team, to organize a weekend-long camp in the mountains for families coping with HIV. These programs became a haven of peace and fun that allowed them to temporarily forget their problems.
Bernie was a blossoming young artist and entrepreneur who created her own fictional company, “RAT, Inc.” She sold many of her signature drawings and clay rat figurines to raise money for the Pediatric AIDS Foundation. In 1998, Bernie passed away. Her mother, Alice, came up with the name,“Really Awesome Times” for our organization as an acronym for “RAT, Inc” to honor Bernie’s memory and her family’s love of camp.
What We Do
R.A.T., Inc hopes to meet the changing needs of HIV-positive youth, which includes a growing number of adolescents and young adults who are no longer living with an acute, but rather a chronic illness, and as a result, continue to face new challenges in their every day lives. Therefore, it is Really Awesome Times' goal to expand camp programs to include programs specifically designed for adolescents and young adults in order to address the educational, health, and social/ emotional needs of this group of young people. *HOW-HOW is a cheer commonly used among our group as a way to excite, motivate, and generally pump folks up!
Our mission is to provide a positive, safe, loving, and accepting social environment where HIV-infected youth and their families can have fun and find support to thrive and survive. During our free camp programs, families find refuge from the medical challenges, judgment, isolation, and fear often associated with HIV. We remain one of the few camps that accommodate the needs of families who are non-disclosed in their communities and sometimes among their own families.
Learn about our board members here.
|
