By Coral Popowitz, Executive Director of Children's Grief Connection
Family Grief Connection programs grows into weekend
Back in January of 2003, the Minnesota Foundation for Children founded by the Minnesota Funeral Directors Association hosted its first Camp Amanda-Minnesota grief camp for kids. By 2007, when I had the honor of becoming executive director, Camp Amanda- Minnesota had served nearly 1,000 kids at 13 Camp Amanda-Minnesota sessions. In 2009, a name change to Children’s Grief Connection and Hearts of Hope camp ushered in a new organizational era as a leading resource for children’s grief programs in Minnesota. Approaching our tenth year we have held 27 camps serving more than 2,000 grieving children at Hearts of Hope camp and teen retreat, over 900 family members in Family Grief Connection, and thousands more in our Community Grief Connection programs. We are especially proud to be partnered the last two years with the Minnesota National Guard at their annual Gold Star Retreat for children and families of our fallen military. As we move into our next decade we continue to grow as a leader in children’s grief resources for the region. In January of this year the board of directors voted to expand our programs into the neighboring states of North and South Dakota and Wisconsin. We will host our first Wisconsin camp November 9, 10 & 11 in Trego, WI. ALL Minnesota families are welcome just as ALL Wisconsin, North and South Dakota families are welcome at our McGregor, MN camp on April 12, 13 & 14, 2013. This expansion allows us to continue to grow our partnership with funeral directors. Children’s Grief Connection is unique in that it is founded, funded and supported by funeral service; most grief camps are associated with hospitals, hospice or insurance companies. We are proud of our partnership and our ability to pro-mote funeral service. It is with that partnership in mind that we expand our Family Grief Connection programs to better serve the grieving adults you work with and care for every day. While their children and teens are attending Hearts of Hope camp and teen retreat, adult family members will now have an opportunity to attend a full day and a half of activities, support and sharing, giving them the tools to re-build their lives after the death of their loved one. With a program that reflects the activities of their children’s experience at Hearts of Hope camp, Family Grief Connection hopes to provide families with the connections that will help them move forward in their grief journey, together, as a family. This pilot program includes free lodging and meals for the weekend thanks to our partnership with Thrivent Financial and Thrivent Community. We are limited to twenty families. A $100 refundable deposit per family is required to reserve a space. While our growth and program changes are exciting one thing remains consistent; our mission to bring hope and healing to grieving families leads us today as it did over 10 years ago. The founding of our organization by funeral directors, the supportive partnership we continue today and in the future is based on that mutual mission. Thank you funeral directors, for 10 incredible years.
