20
Wednesday, June 21, 2017 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
CAMP: Program is
roller-coaster ride
of emotions
Continued from page 1
emotions. Over the next 43
hours, they are encouraged,
supported, and nurtured by
a caring staff as they give
voice to their losses and learn
how to incorporate them into
their lives.
Social worker Amy
Foster-Wexler explained,
“In our Caring Circle, we
help the campers tie together
the loss they have experi-
enced with the strengths they
already possess and the new
tools they learn at camp, to
help them with their feelings
when they leave here.”
In the Caring Circle,
campers talk about emotions
that come up and establish a
vocabulary for what they are
feeling. They learn that feel-
ings are not good or bad; they
are simply human reactions
to what is happening. They
learn breathing exercises to
help them self-soothe when
things get difficult, sad, or
scary. Staff help them self-
identify what works for them,
what they will need to take
care of themselves.
Each camper receives
a small leather medallion
strung with three colored
beads that represent car-
ing, courage, and breath, to
remind the campers of tools
they have to help themselves
through tough times.
At the Friday-night camp-
fire, campers each receive
their own soft teddy bear
to hug when needed. When
asked what his bear’s name
was, one little boy said he
named it after his dad, who
had died.
Campers also receive col-
orful pillowcases in cheerful
children’s prints, handcrafted
by members of the East of
the Cascades Quilters Guild.
New this year were beauti-
ful quilts which each camper
received, made by female
inmates at Coffee Creek
Correctional Facility.
Saturday is filled with
activities to help the campers
unpack their grief, experience
their feelings, and learn help-
ful ways to cope with those
feelings. There is a feelings
fashion-show directed by
Sisters resident Kit Stafford,
one of the camp’s co-facilita-
tors. This fun activity encour-
ages the campers to dress
up in ways that help to out-
wardly display their feelings.
This year for the first time
they also experienced the
benefits of yoga with Jane
Burkholder, a yoga practitio-
ner from Sisters.
Saturday-afternoon art
projects, led by Stafford, pro-
vide two more opportunities
for the campers to process
their grief. Power sticks are
crafted from tree branches
painted and decorated with
symbols representing the per-
son the camper is grieving.
There are representations of
the person’s favorite things or
activities they did, what they
represented to the camper,
and how the camper wants to
remember them. The power
stick, which each camper
takes home, is a reminder
of the power of love and the
intention of remembering the
person who died.
Memory boats are con-
structed using large pieces
of ponderosa bark that will
float. Using all natural mate-
rials like pine cones, sticks,
flowers, bird seed, and paper,
each camper makes a boat
in memory of their loved
one. On Sunday morning, a
procession of campers and
counselors wend their way
down to the shore of Lake
Creek, while they sing about
the flowing river and how
“Mother Earth carries me
back to the sea.”
Each camper individually
releases their memory boat to
be carried down the creek to
the river and onto the ocean,
representing the circle and
seasons of life. Following the
boat release, campers gather
to share their thoughts about
the weekend while staff pre-
pares them to return to their
families.
Family members arrive
late Sunday morning to hear
about what their children
have experienced while at
camp. The campers sing their
favorite songs for the fami-
lies and everyone watches a
slide show of the weekend.
A barbecue closes out
the weekend and campers
leave lighter, full of hope
and memories made, better
equipped to face not only
their current loss but also
those yet to come.
As Stafford reminded
the campers, “We send each
other out with such good
feelings in our hearts.”
Music is a large part of
the weekend. It helps accom-
plish the transitions between
the playful fun times and the
deep moments of contem-
plation. Cloverdale resident
Katie Cavanaugh, who is
the other camp co-facilitator,
provides music. The music
ties the whole camp experi-
ence together, from the morn-
ing wake-up on Cavanaugh’s
fiddle to songs at meals
and around the campfire.
Campers learn the Camp
Sunrise song, “Keep Me in
Your Heart for a While,”
which opens and closes the
camp as the camp flag is
raised and lowered.
Cavanaugh told the fami-
lies, “Your children can take
the music with them in their
hearts and minds.”
Each year, the camp is an
amazing roller-coaster ride
of emotions, activities, fun
and laughter, contempla-
tion, new friendships, and
tears. Campers discover they
are not alone in their grief.
There are others experienc-
ing similar feelings of loss
and sadness.
Camp director for thirteen
years, Sisters resident Diane
Kellstrom, the Redmond
Hospice bereavement coor-
dinator, shared her thoughts
about the camp.
“I am always amazed,
that given how scary this
must be for the children to
come to an unfamiliar place,
alone, how quickly they open
themselves to the counselors
and support staff and other
campers. How brave they are
to share their vulnerability.
They are just beginning to
learn about life’s challenges
that lie ahead of them and we
help equip them to face those
challenges.”
“Every year I come with
the intention to give of myself
fully, and when I leave to go
home I am so moved by what
I have received from the
children,” Cavanaugh said.
Her thoughts were echoed
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by other staff and counselors
regarding why they volunteer
for camp.
The campers seemed to
like everything about camp,
from the counselors to the
s’mores to the candle-light-
ing ceremony to the memory
boats and power sticks, and
everything in between.
When asked what they
would tell someone about
camp, they responded,
“You’re going to have fun.
Amazing. Delicious food.
Fun to have the chance
to meet other campers.
Emotional. Epic. Awesome.”
One family member, who
had two children at camp,
said, “This is an absolutely
amazing program. I would
definitely recommend it to
others… This is the best way
for them to start their sum-
mer… I’ll be looking at vol-
unteering here in the future,
and my son wants to be a
junior counselor.”
This year the camp was
smaller than usual, with 18
campers. Some years there
have been as many as 40.
For those 18 campers there
were 12 counselors, 10 vol-
unteers, and six cabins, each
with three campers and two
counselors.
Camp Sunrise was begun
18 years ago by Hospice
of Redmond social worker
Janet Whitney. In the early
PHOTO BY SUE STAFFORD
Memory boats launched on
Lake Creek begin their journey
downstream.
years, the camp was a collab-
oration of Redmond, Hospice
of Bend (now Partners in
Care), and Pioneer Memorial
Hospice in Prineville, but
is now solely a program of
Hospice of Redmond.
Camp Sunrise is made
possible by donations, grants,
and the proceeds of Teddy
Bear Tea and the sale of the
Camp Sunrise tree at the
Festival of Trees held every
December. All of the monies
allow the camp to be offered
every year free of charge for
the campers.
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