Good Grief Day Camp provides an atmosphere to help kids understand that their grieving feelings are normal and lets them celebrate the life of the person who has died. It also helps them to learn coping skills. The focus of the camp is to help children with grief and bereavement through play, art, music and activities. The location of the camp allowed for both indoor and outdoor activities.
Trudy Ventello, a licensed social worker with Guthrie Hospice, and one of the camp’s leaders said: “There is nothing easy about losing a loved one. Every year’s camp experience has been a great success and very rewarding.”
This year, campers and counselors were joined by Woody Wolfe, Jr. of Heart to Hand Ministries, Inc. who shared stories and music with participants. Children also created personal memory books, shared stories about their loved ones, enjoyed group games and activities and concluded the experience with a memorial service and tree planting. Good Grief Day Camp is supported by the efforts of the Guthrie Hospice volunteers’ fund raising efforts and Bradford County’s Human Service Development Fund.
Guthrie is a non-profit integrated health system located in north central Pennsylvania and Upstate New York, serving patients from an 11-county service area. Guthrie is comprised of a research institute, home care/hospice, hospitals in Sayre, Pa., Corning, N.Y., Towanda, Pa., and Troy, Pa., as well as a multi-specialty group practice of more than 290 physicians and 175 mid-level providers in a regional office network encompassing sub-specialty and primary care sites in 23 communities throughout Pennsylvania and New York. Guthrie offers a wide range of services and programs designed to enhance the health and well-being of those it serves.