Ryan’s Place Camp Hope is designed for children who are experiencing grief due to the death of someone in their life.
For the fourth consecutive year, it’s returning to Warsaw for children who will be going into first through seventh grades.
Coordinator Cara Allebach, mental health therapist with Warsaw Community Schools (WCS), said, via email, Camp Hope is activity based, which helps to facilitate discussions between children about the complicated issues that can arise after the death of a loved one. When a child attends Camp Hope, they have a chance to be with other children to share their feelings and experiences.
This year, the camp will be 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesday, July 16 through Thursday, July 18 at Warsaw Community Church, 1855 S. County Farm Road, Warsaw.
“Just like all of Ryan's Place programming, Camp Hope is provided free of charge due to donations and financial partnerships in the community,” Allebach said.
Families can register by going to the Ryan's Place website at https://ryansplace.org/programs/camp-hope/ or by calling Ryan's Place at 574-535-1000 to enroll. Children must be pre-registered by Monday, July 1.
In previous years, Allebach said the camp has had anywhere between 30 to 40 campers.
Transportation may be provided for students who attend WCS if needed. Lunch is also provided.
"Every year, I am grateful to have the support of the Warsaw Community Schools Transportation Department and Food Services in order to bring free transportation and meals to the children who attend,” she said.
Although lunch is provided, campers are welcome to bring their own lunch from home.
Ryan's Place is a grief support organization based in Goshen. They have provided grief support to children, adults, families and organizations since 2002. The mission and vision of Ryan's Place is that no child or family should grief alone. Ryan's Place primarily supports Elkhart County and the surrounding counties. They host weekly Monday night groups in Goshen. Their staff and volunteers also provide school-based grief groups, as well as crisis support. Camp Hope is another way of delivering this supports during the summer months.
"For over 10 years, I have worked with Ryan's Place closely in my work as a school-based therapist. Every year, I see more and more children and families struggling with their grief. We have students who have had one loss or many losses. These losses can impact their ability to learn due to lack of focus or seeming distracted, anxiety, guilt, sadness or anger,” Allebach said.
"In 2020, when the staff at Ryan's Place approached me about helping to coordinate Camp Hope Warsaw - I was thrilled! I remember thinking to myself that our community has needed something like this for a while and I couldn't wait to bring this type of support to the kids in our community."
Ryan's Place facilitators have been coming to some schools within WCS for over 10 years. Some of these schools have had consistent groups every semester or every year and some are just now realizing the need for this support."
Some of the campers return year after year.
"We have seen several children attend every year. There are other children who came the first or second year and are returning this year. This shows us that grief is always present and always changing. The kids really do love camp!” Allebach said. “I think one of the biggest pieces of feedback we hear directly from the kids is that they were so glad to have found other kids their age that are grieving, too. There is amazing power in realizing that you are not alone in your feelings or circumstances. This is true for all of us, we want to feel connected, seen and heard."
Allebach said they are always seeking new and fresh ideas for different activities each year. They try not to repeat activities since they do have some children who return every year. They want to keep things fun, interactive and engaging for them. This year, they will have music, art and even some yoga/mindfulness activities.
"Children grieve differently than adults do. For an example, many adults may be able to sit and discuss their loved one who died easily and for longer periods of time, but to a child this can be too much. Many children will need shorter or smaller periods of time of processing their grief and then return to other daily activities. We keep this in mind as we make the daily schedule for camp. We break up chunks of time by alternating grief activities, brain break/movement time, games, outdoor activities, arts and crafts and more,” she said.
Ryan's Place relies heavily on volunteers and interns to assist in facilitating small groups. If someone is interested in volunteering, they can call Ryan's Place at 574-535-1000 for more information. Ryan's Place is always looking for more volunteers within the Warsaw community for school-based groups. If someone feels led to make a donation, they can do so on the Ryan's Place website at: https://ryansplace.org/ and clicking on the donate tab.
“We are also very grateful to the staff at Warsaw Community Church who work with us to provide such a great and welcoming space for our campers,” she said.