wfn.org | Lutherans Help Children to "New Ground" Post-Sept. 11

[News News <NEWS@ELCA.ORG>]

ELCA NEWS SERVICE

August 29, 2002

LUTHERANS HELP CHILDREN TO "NEW GROUND" POST-SEPT. 11
02-206-MR

     CHICAGO (ELCA)   Placing children on "new ground" was the
priority this summer for about 800 children from New York and New
Jersey metropolitan areas. "Camp New Ground," a week-long day camp
for children hosted by Lutherans, served to help children process
their feelings from last year's Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the
United States.
     Camp New Ground "helped kids move on to new ground, to a new
place of support, knowing that God is with us in that new place,"
said the Rev. Ann M. Tiemeyer, St. Jacobus Lutheran Church, Queens,
N.Y., camp director.
     "Kids respond to disasters just like adults do," said Tiemeyer.
"Everyone has a different reaction, so the kids [attending the camp]
were at different places emotionally.  We tried to build a camp
opportunity where those at different levels of experience could be
acknowledged, talked about, shared and valued."
     Funded by Lutheran Disaster Response, a ministry of the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and the Lutheran
Church-Missouri Synod (LCMS), Camp New Ground featured morning and
afternoon worship, music, arts and crafts, Bible lessons,
recreational activities and mental health assessment.  Camp New
Ground was launched July 15 and ended Aug. 16.
     About 40 mental health counselors offered opportunities for
children to talk about terrorism, identify their gifts and articulate
their dreams for the future.  The Lutheran Counseling Center, with
offices on Long Island, N.Y., employed the counselors and provided
resources for parents on ways to talk with their children about
terrorism.  College- and high-school-age Lutherans from across the
country also served as camp counselors.
     Each day campers met with a mental health professional and went
"through a series of journal questions that gave opportunities for
kids to engage in conversation about Sept. 11," said Tiemeyer.  "Kids
were asked, 'What makes you happy, and what makes you sad?  What
dreams do you have for yourself, your family and for your
community?'" she said.  "The mental health coordinators were able to
flow with what the kids were giving them and ask questions."
     "Joseph's Journey" served as the camp's theme.  In the book of
Genesis of the Bible, Joseph was sold into slavery in Egypt by his
brothers.  Later, famine swept the land and Joseph (chief
administrator working with Pharoah to deal with the crisis)
encountered his brothers and forgave them for selling him into
slavery.
     Campers engaged in a unique activity to learn about
forgiveness.  "Kids were given a red piece of paper shaped like a
brick.  On the top of the brick [was written], 'How I feel about
terrorists.'  Kids were instructed to write questions and draw,"
Tiemeyer said.
     The bricks were structured into "a wall and the kids talked
about how anger and hate create a wall around us.  On the last day
[of camp], the brick wall came down, as they talked about
forgiveness, wrote prayers of forgiveness or [drew] pictures about
forgiveness and about a variety of things in life where they've
experienced forgiveness or offered it.  The bricks were turned into a
road [designed] to help us walk into a new place and [see] how only
through God's forgiveness can we move into a new place.  That was
true of Joseph; that's true of us," Tiemeyer said.
     In addition to counseling, "there was plain old good fun.  Kids
made handprints and played with a parachute to work off energy.
There was a variety of ways for kids to be in community together and
have a sense of support," Tiemeyer said.  Firefighters, emergency
workers and rescue dogs also came for an afternoon to meet with the
kids, she said.
     "The biggest success of Camp New Ground is that it created a
variety of new networks of support and care, not only for the campers
but for the congregations and schools that hosted," she said.  "The
camp provided a whole new network of support for families and
churches by connecting people with each other and connecting us, not
only with each other but with God in that process," said Tiemeyer.
     Camp New Ground was managed by Koinonia, a camp ministry of the
ELCA and LCMS.  Koinonia is based in Highland Lake, N.Y.
-- -- --
     Information on Camp New Ground is maintained at
http://www.ldrny.org on the Internet.

For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or NEWS@ELCA.ORG
http://listserv.elca.org/archives/elcanews.html