Vol. 122, No. 10
August 2019
A time to play & heal
INSIDE
Top producers for second quarter recognized ➤ Pg. 4
Dance registration continues through first of October ➤ Pg. 9
Lots of smiling faces seen at Camp 2019 ➤ Pgs. 14-16
hermannsonslife.org
Camp provides retreat for grieving children COMFORT – They swam. They danced. They played GaGa. They built model rockets. And they laughed – a lot. But the most important thing the 83 children who attended the third Grief Support Camp did was what they came there to do – take another step on their path to healing their broken hearts. These children – ages 6 to 17 – came from different cities and different backgrounds but they all had one thing in common. They had all lost someone very close to them and they were having a hard time dealing with that. The Grief Support Camp was a place where they could share their feelings like they couldn’t anywhere else. They were surrounded by people who understood what they were going through because they were going through it themselves.
One of the therapists from the Children’s Bereavement Center (CBC) said that many of the children told her time and again, “I learned that I am not alone.” In between the volleyball, baseball, ceramics and the dance there was time set aside
“I learned that I am not alone.” multiple times a day to sit in what are called “healing circles” that are organized based on age. No one is allowed into the healing circles except the children and the therapists. But there was therapy going on in other
places as well. Bellin, a therapy dog, paid a visit. He has been there all three years. The children get to love on him while his handlers answer questions about death and dying. Every year each child brings a photo of their lost loved one with them and they talk See CAMP, Pg. 12