Myra’s Kids Camp: A Place Where Everyone Gets It

Last weekend I had the incredible opportunity to attend Myra’s Kids Camp. Myra's Kids Camp is made for children who are grieving the loss of a loved one. It is a completely free opportunity for kids between the ages of 6-17 to go to summer camp for a weekend and be surrounded by other kids who have been through similar trauma and experience similar grief.

Obviously this hits super close to home for me as I lost my mom when I was 15 years old.

Just like my Vipassana course, and most other things that I spend my time doing, this too had everything that I search for in life. Growth, connection, novelty, challenge, love, play. This weekend though had a lot more connection and play. These things are such key components to the life I live today and the things that I want to share with the world.

I had a lot of favourite parts of this weekend as you'll see, but the one I want to talk about first is how grateful I am that I had the opportunity to be a role model and show what vulnerability looks like to some of these kids. One of the nights I sat around a campfire with about fourteen 15-17 year olds and some of my co-staff. I had the opportunity to be the first to share a little bit about my grief story. When I was done, we went around the circle and each person shared what they were comfortable sharing about. We were there for 3 hours. It was both heartbreaking and beautiful. It was beautiful to get to watch such young kids have the opportunity to talk about something so deep and be so vulnerable in front of others, in front of people who understood.

The weekend wasn't only about grief, but it was what grief was all about. It was not linear and not all sad. It was summer camp with a grief component to it. We had a water balloon and shaving cream fight one day. We went on the boats and went water skiing. We shared laughs and smiles. We ate lots of mediocre food. We didn't get much sleep. We talked about people we lost and then we had fun playing activities and singing camp songs. Grief and joy didn't have to take turns. They were both allowed to be present at the same time. We're allowed to be both sad and happy at the same time.

If I knew about this camp when I was that age, not only would I not have had the courage to share in front of others, but I wouldn’t have even had the courage to show up. Upon reflection, I think one of the reasons I wouldn’t have gone is because of my firm belief that I was alone in what I was dealing with. This feeling of loneliness manifested as a self fulfilling prophecy. Not only did I feel like I was alone, I also pushed everyone away to make these feelings a reality. If I would’ve gone to Myra’s Kids it would’ve gone against everything that I believed about the world. I never would have let that happen.

And while it may not have been the right fit for me at the time, I am glad that others do not feel this way. There were 80 kids last weekend that were there and able to benefit from this amazing community. Some kids were as young as 6 years old, truly incredible and inspiring. These 6 year olds will never be able to say that nobody gets it as they grow up. At such a young age, they had the opportunity to be surrounded by so many people who do get it and that makes all the difference. To have been there seeing this community of kids after feeling so alone myself for so long was one of the best feelings in the world.

Not only was the community amazing for the kids, but also for the staff. I had been to a few Myra’s Kids events before the weekend camp and everyone always talked about how the volunteers really are a family. When I first became part of this organization I didn’t feel that close connection at first. As soon as I got to camp though, that changed. Another one of my favourite parts of the weekend for me was getting the chance to connect with the other volunteers, many of which also lost a parent or a loved one. I was able to have deep conversations with people who understand my grief and whose grief I understand as well. A lot of my life right now is centred around mental health, sobriety and exercise. While grief does have a huge role to play in all of those things, I don’t often get the chance to be in a setting that is predominantly centred around grief.

Something that really shows just how special this organization is is the fact that there were over 10 volunteers who have transitioned from camper to volunteer. One in particular was there for the inaugural summer when she was 9 years old. It was her tenth summer this summer and second as a staff. The fact that these kids not only showed up year after year as campers, but when their time came to a close decided to come back as volunteer speaks volumes to what this camp is all about.

Service work is all about giving your time to something that means something to you. Over 50 volunteers sacrificed 4 days of their summer to sleep in a sleeping bag in order for these kids to be able to come to this place and experience all the amazing aspects of it. It's hard to say anything bad about someone who shows up in this way for kids who are going through so much. And not only to show up in this way, but to do it with the biggest smiles on their faces. Shoutout to all of the truly amazing volunteers that I now have the privilege of calling my friends.

I’m so grateful for the opportunity to have shown up for these kids, for the other volunteers, for myself and for Myra’s Kids camp as a whole. I will undoubtedly be attending for years to come.

And as their saying goes, “No child grieves alone.”