“Grieving children often feel very isolated because they rarely know anyone their age who has experienced the death of a family member or someone very close to them.  And their parents – their primary source of emotional support – are grieving the same death.  Children see their parents sad or crying and fear that, by sharing their own pain with them, they will make their parents even more sad.  So they become protective of their parents and keep their feelings to themselves.  It is critical to a child’s well-being that there is someone with whom the child can share the pain and sadness without worrying about needing to protect that individual from their pain.  If these children can find other children their own age who have had a similar experience, they can validate each other’s feelings and lessen their own sense of isolation.  They can help heal each other.”

Camp Love’s Embrace – A place where grieving kids can grieve and embrace the love they’ve lost.  This annual event held each spring and takes place at the Lakota Retreat Center on Lake Shetek near Slayton, Minnesota.  This year the event will be held on April 24-26, 2020.

This is an overnight camp for children ages 7-14 experiencing grief related to the death of a loved one, such as mother, father, sibling, grandparent, or best friend.  Each child will be paired with a trained, competent “buddy” and will receive the benefits of counseling by qualified, skilled counselors, and fun activities in a beautiful setting.  The children are given the opportunity to express their grief through art, music, play, circle time, and rituals.  They are encouraged to talk about the person, share the stories, and embrace the memories of their loved one.

Click here to print out forms for the camp.

Camp Love’s Embrace is also looking for volunteer mentors to be paired one on one with a child, aged 7-14, for this event.  Mentors will need to be available Friday afternoon, April 24, at 3:30 p.m.for an orientation training through 4:00 p.m., Sunday, April 26.  There is no cost to the camper or mentors (must be at least 19 years old).  Contact Whitney Adler at 605-929-1841 or email [email protected].

To contact them about attending please send an email to:   [email protected].