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Well, it is back to school time. Remember growing up and your first day back to school the teacher asked you to write a report about what you did over the summer? I would like to share with you, a part of my summer. I had been hearing of Camp Good Grief (Baptist Trinity Center for Good Grief celebrated its 12th annual Camp Good Grief this summer) and had wondered what kind of summer camp for kids it would be.

A good friend of mine that I had lost contact with, Jay Atkins and I ran into each other at the grocery store, and he had a bright yellow t-shirt with a picture of the Peanuts characters and in bold letters it said Camp Good Grief. He told me a little bit about it, and I said I was interested and would he call me the next time it came around. Jay called me in June and said, “Hey Bill, got you signed up for camp.” Jay is the kind of guy that does not let the grass grow underneath his feet.

This summer I went to the 12th annual Camp Good Grief held at Pinecrest Center in Lagrange, TN. Children ages 6-12 have the opportunity to attend this camp within 2 years of the death of a loved one. This is the one thing that all these children have in common – somebody they loved has died. The Baptist Trinity Camp Good Grief bereavement camp is a wonderful experience for the campers, the camper buddies, and the adult volunteers. (I guess I qualify as an adult, even if the kid in me comes out as I get older.)

There is too much to try to convey about this personal experience and Camp Good Grief to do justice in this brief article.

One of the main themes of this camp is to let these children know that it is ok for them to be sad and to share their sadness with others. The activities and therapies are designed to make help children feel comfortable. The first thing is that children are assigned to a group; such as the Charlie Brown group, the Lucy group, the Linus group and other peanuts characters. Each kid also gets a buddy for the entire time of the camp.
 
The camp starts with talking and singing on a bus ride to Pinecrest. When the kids reach camp, they are greeted by a line of volunteers cheering them off the bus better than any super bowl crowd. There are fun activities, such as the water balloon relay race. By the way the camp helpers are fair game during the water balloon race if one of the runners decides to share their water balloon. There are changes of clothes for the camp helpers. There are also workshops for the children with licensed therapists. In one of the camp group sessions, the kids use materials to build a kaleidoscope. You may remember when you were little and had one of these. Looking into it you see a bunch of colors of broken images that come together as beautifully colored shapes in a symmetrical dance. There were grief dogs, trained to work in grief counseling. These animals were amazing to watch as they interacted with these kids and made them feel comfortable being around at different times during camp.

This is just a brief description that makes up a much bigger camp experience. A couple of weeks after 9/11 a children’s hospital in New York called Baptist Trinity Good Grief and a group of Good Grief people were on their way.

Camp Good Grief has a champion who had an idea that stayed alive over 13 years and became a reality. This champion’s name is Angela Hamblen, my new friend. She is a story all her own. How many people do you know that would not have given up long before 13 years of believing in something and staying with it?...taking this vision and making it a big part of Baptist Trinity Center for Good Grief. Angela, Jay and the rest of the team give new meaning to the phrase, “Good Grief Charlie Brown.”


Bill Appling, MBA, FACMPE, is president of Watkins Uiberall Health Care Consulting. He has faculty appointments at the University of Memphis in the Fogelman College of Economics and Business, where he teaches in the Masters of Health Care Administration program.

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