Sask. camp for kids dealing with grief and trauma finds the volunteers it needed

A camp in Saskatchewan for kids coping with grief is going full-speed ahead after almost turning campers away dueto a lack of male volunteers.

The camp is runtwice a year by Caring Hearts, a Regina-based not-for-profit agency, for children aged six to 16dealing withtrauma, grief and other mental health struggles.

• Sask. camp for children coping with grief in need of male volunteers

An upcoming camp from May 3 to 5 at Lumdsen currently has 63 kids signed up about half whom are boys according toTrishDupuis, executive director of Caring Hearts.

As of last week the camponly had two male volunteers and riskedturning away boys. It putout a call tothe community.

"We received a flood of phone calls, emails and Facebook messages from people wanting tohelp and offer to volunteer for camp weekends," said Dupuis.

She said they went from having 19 volunteers to 44, half of whom are men, which means none of the kids will be turned away.

"That is the best feeling in the world," said Dupuis.

"We didn't want to make those decisionsand face having to notify camp families that unfortunately due to a lack of volunteers we weren't going to be able to accept their their campers application."

She said they had an applicant from as far as Meadow Lake, Sask. about 525 kilometres away from the camp.

"I'm just truly humbled to to see the remarkable response from communities all over the province," said Dupuis, noting the camp has closed applications for volunteers and campers because they have reached maximum capacity.

The next camp is scheduled for Sept. 27to 29.

Fundraising efforts

Dupuis said Caring Heartsis now focused on organizing the upcoming camp and fundraising.

The camps offer therapeutic and guided activities that help kidsdeal with emotional aspects of grief. An elder is also brought in to work with kids.

Attendees partakein fun activities like campfires, canoeing, rock-climbing and horseback riding.

The campsare free to attend, said Dupuis, but it costs Caring Hearts $72,000 per year to host them.

Dupuis said the organizationis currently looking for corporate partners and individual donations.

"We don't receive any core government funding, so it is really through our events, and individual and corporate donations where we are able to continue providing," she said.