In Marin / CONVERSATION
Lori
Sparrow
A lifetime of fundraising
has led her to Camp
Okizu — and a leading
role in supporting families
with childhood cancer.
BY JIM WOOD
PHOTO BY LENNY GONZALEZ
WHEN LORI SPARROW was 19, she participated in a 90-day Outward Bound course wherein she sailed from Maine down to the
Florida Keys in a boat that resembled a Viking
ship with 23 other intrepid — and oftentimes
grumpy — young adults. She clearly remembers telling herself, during the required
three-day solo camp on a remote island, that
no matter what, she wanted to make a difference in people’s lives.
Now, as executive director of Camp Okizu,
Sparrow feels she’s doing just that. Okizu (
pronounced oak-eye-zoo) is a Native American
word that means “healing from a hurt”; set
on 500 acres with three lakes in the Northern
Sierra, the camp has the express mission “to
support families with childhood cancer.”
In the past 35 years, Okizu has served more
than 10,000 patients and their families. Every
summer it hosts seven weeklong sessions,
offered free to families who have a child or
children suffering from cancer, be it leukemia
or a tumor. Three of the sessions are devoted
