PERRYSVILLE – As the lunch hour neared, a feeling of restlessness began to emerge within the activities room where a good portion of ‘Camp Hope’ participants had just wrapped up a craft session. On this day, Thursday, they made Hogwarts-themed scarves.
Before they were dismissed for lunch by camp co-director Kathy Wantland, many of the younger campers began to socialize and move astray from their workstations.
But one camper chose to stay seated, sticking beside her counselor, who looked to be at least 10 years her elder. She sat and examined her scarf, and they talked. And then, seemingly out of nowhere, she lunged from her seat and wrapped the counselor in a bear hug – two arms tightly squeezing around the shoulders, eyes closed.
Nothing was said. But at the same time, everything was said.
This is Camp Hope, a place where “it’s OK to cry,” Wantland said.
The camp is for local kids ages 6 to 17 who have experienced the loss of a loved one, and it is hosted by Hospice of North Central Ohio. This year it was held at Pleasant Hill Outdoor Camp, tucked deep into the woods just North of Mohican State Park.
Eighty-eight kids attended this year’s camp, coming from seven different counties – although the majority came from Knox, Richland and Ashland.
The camp is meant to provide local youth with an a space to grieve, have fun, and form bonds with others who share similar life experiences.
“This is a safe place, and it helps them continue on their journey,” Wantland said. “I think a lot of times, and I hear people say this, ‘You just need to get over it.’ Well you don’t get over a loss, you get through it – and it’s a continuous process, throughout a lifetime.
“So if we can equip these kids right now, planting seeds, then it’s like, this is a life skill.”
Six staff members and 40 volunteers combined to run this year’s camp, Wantland said.
Camp Hope, which just concluded its 16th year, used to be split into two sessions. This year, Wantland (who is a bereavement coordinator at Hospice of Knox County) and fellow co-director Kailey Bradley (who is a bereavement coordinator at Hospices in Richland and Ashland counties) chose to combine them, to simplify logistics and create a more immersive environment for campers.
“It’s been a real blessing to be able to do it all together and it also gives the kids more support,” Bradley said. “They meet different kids that they wouldn’t have maybe gotten a chance to meet otherwise. So they’re expanding their support systems.”
This year’s camp was Harry Potter-themed, titled ‘Harry Potter: The Children Who Lived.’ Bradley, a self-proclaimed ‘Potter-head,’ said she and Wantland came up with the idea after last year’s camp.
“We were thinking about, ‘Oh my goodness, how many characters in Harry Potter, in the book series and the movies, have lost somebody significant in their lives,’” Bradley said. “So we decided that we kind of wanted to expand from that.”
Campers were divided up into four houses, a nod to the series, and their houses earned points during competitions and for good behavior. Campers spent the week doing crafts, zip-lining, rock climbing, canoeing, swimming and horseback riding, among other activities.
“We keep them busy,” Bradley said, laughing.
And during the time in between, campers were provided an atmosphere of support.
“We’re here for the kids,” Wantland, in her 13th year at the camp, said. “I mean, each of these kids have lost – it could be a parent, it could be a grandparent, it could be a sibling, it could be an aunt or uncle. And it could be to suicide, it could be to a car accident, it could be to illness – any of those things.
“And a lot of times, families do not discuss, or they think that the kids, ‘They’re doing OK.’ So we want to have a meeting ground at this time of the year, where they can come and it’s OK to cry. It’s OK to be upset. We want to give them coping skills, we want them to be able to do it in a positive way, so that they’re pulling up on their strengths.”
Bradley added that the camp also tries to strike a balance, wanting the kids to have fun while also being able to grieve at the same time.
“Kids grieve differently than adults,” Bradley said. “So we’re really sensitive to that here and kind of the realization that we absolutely want kids to have a space to talk about their grief, but also have fun. We try to have that balance all week, of letting them talk about their losses but also just doing normal summer camp activities as well.
“A lot of the kids will say to us, ‘Is it OK that I have fun?’ After a loss, they get kind of confused about what’s ‘appropriate’ and what they’re able to do. And so again, we just want them to be kids out here.”
While a campground staffer showed off a bird of prey to the campers behind them, Wantland and Bradley beamed about the camp’s first summer at Pleasant Hill, which was willing to accommodate such a large group.
As campers assembled into the lunch line that afternoon, most seemed rather talkative. On the second-to-last day of camp, they seemed to have formed a bond with each other, one that might be a bit stronger than that of a typical day camp.
“A lot of our adult volunteers have also experienced losses and they will say things to us like, ‘You know, I wish there had been something like this for us when we experienced a particular loss as a kid,’” Bradley said. “I’m always amazed, year after year, about how resilient our kids are, as they share their stories. I mean these are kids that have been through a lot. But they have a lot of inner strength that never ceases to amaze me.”
