Camp Sunrise offers healing environment for bereaved children

Kids at Camp Sunrise display their camp banner. photo by Jim Mitchell They come to Sisters to heal.

Last weekend 39 youths from throughout Central Oregon attended Camp Sunrise, a camp for bereaved youth. A joint production of Hospice of Redmond, Sisters and Grant County and Hospice of Bend-La Pine, the camp was conducted at the United Methodist Church Camp on Suttle Lake.

Camp Sunrise has offered grief therapy to young people ages six to 14 for six of the last eight years. It is founded on the understanding that "every child deserves the opportunity to grieve in a safe, supportive, and understanding environment."

Each camper had experienced the death of one or more family members or friends. Some were repeat campers and some councilors were still involved in the grief process.

Janet Whitney, camp organizer, expressed the attitude of the program.

"We really work hard with people (camp staff) on understanding grief in children," she said. "We spend a full day before camp preparing people to do this. It's not enough to just show up with a big heart."

Music, found anywhere and everywhere throughout the camp, was provided by Tom Robson with his wife Darla. Robson sings and is proficient on most stringed instruments and a variety of others. Many of his songs are self-written, some on-the-spot at camp.

The Friday evening campfire included a long and involved story complete with animation and group participation.

But, the big event was the presentation of a lush, brown teddy bear to each camper. All campers greeted their bears with warm hugs and most were inseparable from their bears for the rest of camp.

Mornings were greeted (loudly) by the banjo-strumming Robson and his troubadours singing "Good morning, good morning..."

The smart campers jumped up before the band arrived. Otherwise they were serenaded at bedside.

Saturday, breakfast (with song) was followed by a graphic discussion of the grieving process. A counselor acted as the "brain." Campers represented additional burdens and were attached to the "brain" by short lengths of rope. The brain handled the push and pull of everyday activities until the additional burdens of death and grieving were added. Finally the brain could not handle the load and collapsed on the floor amid a pile of campers.

This entertaining demonstration caused some of the "least likely" campers to express their feelings about the death of a loved one.

Craft sessions were popular with campers. In the first, campers searched the nearby woods for materials to construct their personal "power stick." Most were walking staff size, to which were added paint, ribbons, beads, feathers, clay figurines and more. The finished works of art represented personal power, the intended message being that the camper retained his/her personal power despite the loss of a loved one.

Like the teddy bears, the power sticks became constant companions of many of the campers.

In another craft session campers constructed "memory boats" out of available natural materials -- tree bark, sticks, leaves, moss, and feathers. Some attached notes written to their lost loved ones. The memory boats were launched in Lake Creek the next morning.

Most staff and campers agreed that Saturday's campfire was the highlight of the camp.

There was more singing, an imaginative coyote story, then each camper explained the construction of his/her power stick.

As darkness came, each camper lighted a candle in memory of those he/she had lost. The somber mood carried on into general story-telling and letting-go by the campers and camp staff.

As a general sense of togetherness became apparent, some expressed feelings and experiences not previously verbalized. Funding problems plagued the camp in its beginning. Since then, Whitney said, "The cities of Redmond and Sisters have been very generous with donations coming in regularly. Community support has made it possible to operate the camp without grants for the last two years."

She pointed out the Kiwanis Clubs of Redmond and Sisters and the Church of the Transfiguration in Sisters as regular supporters.

When asked, "What keeps you coming back?" Robson replied, "The magic draws me. To me, it's magic the way these kids change.

"They get together and get to know each other and it touches the heart."