Camp comforts children mourning loved ones

In a peaceful, ranch-like setting, a group of 35 children recently met to take part in Camp Kangaroo, in an effort to come to grips with the traumatic loss of a parent or loved one.

The weekend-long camp in Coconut Creek, which took place at Tomorrow’s Rainbow, a nonprofit organization and grief counseling center for children, was a joint effort between Tomorrow’s Rainbow and Seasons Hospice & Palliative Care, a Chicago-based company that operates hospice centers for end-oflife care and bereavement and counseling services for surviving family members and loved ones.

Here, in the great outdoors, the children took part in peer support groups, music and pet therapy, arts and crafts. They also played in a teddy bear hospital, musical garden, puppet theater, interacted with horses, ponies and a pig, and shared their pent-up feelings and experiences with others who’ve gone through the same ordeal.

A support group for surviving parents was also offered.

The center provides the services free of charge throughout the year, and is supported by private and corporate donations.

The center is designed to provide hope and a way to rebuild lives shattered by devastating grief.

“Children who don’t have coping skills often internalize their grief emotions. We help them so they don’t have to carry it around without a healthy outlet,” said Abby Mosher, the founder and executive director of Tomorrow’s Rainbow.

Mosher said her center provides service to 500 children a year and training to teachers and guidance counselors.

Groups for smaller children and older children referred from area schools, hospitals and hospice centers allow Mosher and her team of volunteers and specialists to focus on each group’s needs and capacities.

Ana Garcia, volunteer services coordinator for Seasons Hospice, said her company partnered with Tomorrow’s Rainbow for three years based on their record of success with children.

“The camp went so well that the children did not want to leave, and they will benefit from the therapeutic tools they have learned to apply in their lives and from the ongoing bereavement sessions provided by Tomorrow’s Rainbow,” she said.

After bringing them to the counseling sessions that are held twice a month on Saturdays, Ellison Howard enrolled her two daughters in Camp Kangaroo to help them deal with the grief of losing their father to heart disease early this year. “They have already benefited from the weekend sessions, and the camp also helped them tremendously,” said Howard, a Plantation resident.

Lei Lani Waters brought her son and daughter to the camp to help them work through the grief they still feel after their father died in a motorcycle accident three years ago.

“My daughter is learning to deal with the loss of her father; it doesn’t consume her life as much now. My son grew really shy and didn’t much like to talk about his father, but at the camp he interacted with the other children and sang along with the others. It’s amazing to see him transform from an angry child. It helped him come out and open up to the other kids. The parent support group helped me, too, and helped me realize I’m not the only one going through this,” said Waters, a Lighthouse Point resident.

For more information on Tomorrow’s Rainbow, or to volunteer, donate, or refer a child, visit www.TomorrowsRainbow.org.