As Cheryl was dying of cancer at Sentara Hospice a few years ago, she told one of her nurses about her dream to one day make a quilt out of her 14-year-old daughter’s old clothes as a wedding gift.
Her terminal condition would get in the way of seeing her daughter one day walk down the aisle, but hospice volunteers made sure her dream to give the quilt – designed with the image of a lighthouse – as a wedding gift.
Cheryl worked on designing the quilt toward the end of her life and died knowing volunteers would finish it for her.
Last year, Sentara Hospice started Camp Lighthouse — a name inspired by Cheryl’s story — for children who have lost a family member or close friend. Camp Lighthouse aims to be “a beacon of hope for grieving children,” according to the camp’s website.
This year Camp Lighthouse is scheduled from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Oct. 19 and 20 at the Jamestown 4-H Education. The camp is meant for any grieving child or young adult, not just those whose friends or family had been cared for at Sentara Hospice. The Sentara hospice program organizes the camp and offers its trained professionals and volunteers as facilitators.
Camp Lighthouse, which is meant to help give the children the proper emotional tools to deal with their grief, costs $20 per child, though financial assistance is available to those in need. It is funded through the donations of local businesses and members of the community.
While the children will be involved in small group sessions to discuss their grief, they will also bond with their fellow campers through team-building games, crafts and other activities. The two-day camp concludes with a memorial service for the children’s loved ones who have died.
Click here for information on registering a grieving child for Camp Lighthouse.
