Children who lost someone to death, be it suddenly or from an illness, sometimes have trouble handling grief and the stages associated with it on their own. Camp Hope gives them the chance to meet others their age who have also lost someone and get emotional support.

“The first thing kids will recognize is that there are lots and lots of other kids who are dealing with similar feelings that they are,” said camp director Emily Sandlin. “They can look around and see children dealing with those same feelings and that helps them right off.”

Children ages 5 to 15 are invited to the free camp and will be split into two groups, children and teenagers. They will participate in activities that teach different coping mechanisms and learn that people can still have joy in life even when they’re grieving.

“We make a memory book to remember the person and have storytime focusing on feelings of grief and guilt,” Sandlin said. “We do all kinds of therapeutic things in the morning.”

One of her favorite parts of camp is pairing the child or teen with a “buddy.”

“A buddy is a trained volunteer paired with the child to give that child undivided attention for the day,” Sandlin said. “It’s so important that a child feels like they’re the only person in the world and they can share any feelings they have.”

In the afternoon campgoers are broken into groups of boys and girls and can swim or fish.

“We have a water slide and tons of fun things to get that energy out,” Sandlin said. “At the end of the day, we have a celebration service and we have an uplifting speaker come, and we do a wrap up of the day to leave things on a positive note.”

Part of the children’s send-off is getting to write a note to their loved ones on balloons and releasing them.

Sandlin said parents and guardians are invited to the end-of-the-day activities and can watch the children receive their certificate of the day.

“That kind of joins the kid to the caretaker so they can go home and have something to talk about,” she said.

Sandlin is on her sixth year with the camp and third year directing it. She began volunteering after her husband died in 2011.

“My first year volunteering, I was paired with a child who had gone through loss and it was remarkable to see the simple faith the kids have and their understanding of the process of death,” she said. “They don’t know how to deal with the emotions and issues of getting through daily life, but they can draw it and the different activities help them go through their feelings and give them a starting point.”

The camp’s goal is to teach children coping mechanisms and helping them to face the hardship of death and the trials of life.

In order to find children who may be interested in Camp Hope, Sandlin meets with county and city school counselors.

She said she is still looking for camper referrals and volunteers to help out. Volunteers must be ages 16 and up who can commit to a short training, less than an hour, 2 p.m. April 23 or May 20 at the hospice office on Marion Street and everyone is welcome to volunteer.

“We do simple paperwork and background checks since they’re one on one with a child,” Sandlin said. “We want to make sure our kids are safe first and foremost.”

She wanted to emphasize that although the camp is hosted by Hospice of Limestone County, the child’s loss doesn’t have to be hospice or from a terminal illness.

“It can be any loss,” Sandlin said. “It doesn’t have to be recent either — if they have feelings of grief then they’re welcome.”

Camp Hope is 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. June 6 at Camp Helen in East Limestone.

Even though the camp is free of charge, attendees must register and registration is ongoing.

Registration is through the website www.hospiceolc.org and click “Camp,” or call Sandlin at 256-777-2807 for a paper form.