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Five years ago, when Alyssa Innamorato was 8, she heard about a day camp for kids with cancer that moved her so much, she spearheaded an annual fund-raiser that so far has raised more than $35,000.
The 13-year-old Long Islander still remembers how she felt the day she was in Hebrew school and a representative of Sunrise Day Camp came to tell the kids “what the camp was about — and it just made me say, ‘Wow!’ ’’ she recalled.
Sunrise, in Wheatley Heights, LI, is “the only full-service, dedicated day camp in the nation for children with cancer and their siblings [that is] offered free of charge to kids 3 to 16 from the metro area,’’ said a camp spokeswoman, Judy Fishkind.
Alyssa said, “The fact that there were kids my age and younger and they had to go through this in their everyday life — I just thought it would be good if I helped them.’’
For the past five years, the now-eighth-grader and her parents have put together an annual carnival in the cul de sac of their Syosset block.
“The carnival was all her idea,’’ said her mom, Janie. “It’s games, raffle prizes, snacks, music and raising money and community awareness. All the profits go to Sunrise.’’
Alyssa was nominated for a New York Post Liberty Medal in the Young Heart category by her father, Charles.