Simple Is Better – Supporting Children Through Grief

Revelation 21:4 -  He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more. There will be no mourning, crying, or pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

Gratitude 981

Grief. It’s personal to me. In fact, I recently published a book about grief. How grief is more of a part of our lives than we often realize.

Now, try to imagine being a kid and experiencing huge amounts of grief. Like being a child or teen a losing a parent. A sibling. A significant person in their lives. Loss so big it’s impossible to begin to wrap one’s little arms around it.

I can’t even imagine.

How can we support children through grief? Thank goodness there are organizations that want to step in and help kids and teens navigate the really tough experience of losing a special loved one. This is the purpose of Camp Hope. And it is the non-profit organization Our Monthly Resolution is featuring during February.

If you aren’t familiar with Our Monthly Resolution (OMR), this is a group my friend Stacie and I started five years ago. Each month, we pick a Wisconsin-based non-profit organization that is committed to serving people in a special way. We’ve supported about 60 different organizations with each organization receiving about $1,000 in donations. Some more. Some less. The point of Our Monthly Resolution is when we each give a little, together, we can do a lot.

Each person decides how much to support each OMR organization with. We suggest $25. Some people give more. Some less. You choose. If you prefer to support a non-profit organization closer to you, be encouraged by the type of organization we scout out each month and choose one you like. OMR was started to find smaller non-profit organizations that are doing fantastic work and would benefit from a little financial encouragement.

Our February OMR is Camp Hope. It was started by Becky over 35 years ago after she miscarried a baby she and her husband named Sara. Wanting a place for grieving kids to go, Maria started Camp Hope in memory of her daughter. Amazing, fifty children signed up for the first camp. Camp HOPE became the first camp for grieving children in Wisconsin and one of the few in existence across the nation. To inspire HOPE, love and joy for grieving children and families through a free camp weekend, participants connect and share with those who've also experienced the pain of loss and are committed to healing, together.

Today, Camp Hope offers camps three times a year to a place full of love, joy, and hope. Each camp embraces these values: share, laugh, heal and together. The goal is to offer Camp HOPE weekends free of charge to all families. Camp Hope believes no child should be unable to experience the healing power of Camp because of their financial background.

Here's what one camper said about her experience at Camp Hope:

"I met so many wonderful people (counselors and campers) that changed my life for the better. I was feeling really alone and depressed and Camp HOPE completely flipped my outlook on life."

- Hannah, 16

This is where OMR can help. We encourage you to donate to Camp Hope during the month of

February. It’s Valentine’s Day this weekend. A special way to honor someone you love and bless someone else would be to donate in honor of your loved one to Camp Hope. Or simply, donate!

Here’s how:

Online at: https://www.camphopeforkids.org/donate

Mail a donation to: Camp Hope, P.O. Box 70722, Madison, WI 53707

Purchase something from their Amazon wish list: https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/3R1S1X0BI0DIN?asc_source=01HA27KKZ797CTK9Z7EGCDH1R5&ref_=wl_share&tag=snxs33-20

For matching donations, their EIN is: 39-1639982.

Please indicate your donation is part of Our Monthly Resolution.

We often say that we don’t know how to support someone going through a difficult time. If you know a child or teen experience grief from the loss of a closed loved one, put them in touch with Camp Hope at https://www.camphopeforkids.org/camp-hope-registration.

We can support families with loss who have children by supporting Camp Hope this month.

Thank you to everyone who has participated in Our Monthly Resolution. Stacie and I appreciate it!

Blessings –

Dianne

Lord God – Loss is hard. I can’t imagine being a young person and losing someone special in their lives. Be with those young people who have experienced significant loss in their lives. May they find support such as Camp Hope to help them through an awfully challenging time in their lives. Amen.

Amen.

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