Summer Family Day
Summer Family Day is a fun-filled gathering for all past and present (and future) Special Love families. We are also celebrating Special Love’s 40th year! We’ll have everything from face painters, balloon artists, zip-lining, crafts, and outdoor games.. Food and fellowship are of course on the menu. It’s a can’t-miss time for families who have come together and heal.
BRASS Camp (Brothers And SiSters Camp)
Our annual salute to siblings is back! We’ll convene on July 23-29 at Camp Maria in Leonardtown, MD, for a week of fun, friendship, and adventure. The venue sits on the edge of Breton Bay (part of the Chesapeake Bay) so fishing, crabbing, and canoeing are part of the fun. There’s also a pool for swimming, campfires, and loads of sports and crafts. It’s all open to campers 7-17 who have a brother or sister within 5 years of treatment (or 7 years of a bone marrow transplant), as well as bereaved sibs. Older teens are eligible to be CITs (counselors-in-training).
BRASS (Brothers and Sisters) camp addresses the special needs of a patient’s siblings by hosting campers in a week-long program of activities such as campfires, canoeing, arts & crafts and sports, along with the camaraderie and peer empathy. It also provides campers with an open dialog among campers and counselors to ensure siblings going through the cancer experience are enveloped in the same type of support as their parents and their sick brothers or sisters.
BRASS Camp is one of only a handful of camps across the country that provide a camp experience designed specifically for siblings to escape the stresses and challenges of having a sibling with cancer, and surrounds them with those who understand exactly what they are going through.
In addition to the camping experience, BRASS features include a chat room where siblings can discuss informally and confidentially the challenges, fears, and concerns of having a sibling with cancer. Participation is totally voluntary. Tools are available to counselors to facilitate these chats, and a separate chat room session is offered to bereaved siblings.
Not surprisingly, most BRASS Camp volunteers are cancer siblings themselves, some of whom attended BRASS Camps. This is driven by the camp’s strong Counselor in Training, or CIT, program. Campers aged 15 and 16 are eligible for the CIT program, which is a separate class at camp, focusing on developing teamwork and strong interpersonal skills in younger campers through role modeling.
Angela Ashman, Program Director
[email protected]
Office
158 Front Royal Pike, Suite 311
Winchester, Virginia 22602
(888) 930-2707
[email protected]
Leave a Reply