Title: Lutherans Offer Camps For Young Gulf Coast Disaster Survivors ELCA NEWS SERVICE
June 15, 2006
Lutherans Offer Camps For Young Gulf Coast Disaster Survivors 06-083-KH*
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Lutheran Social Service of Minnesota (LSSM) will offer more than 65 camps this summer for school-aged children who were affected by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005. Of the one million people displaced by the 2005 hurricanes, 372,000 were school-aged children in kindergarten through 12th grade, according to Susan Kim, news editor, Disaster Relief Network.
LSSM, in cooperation with Lutheran Social Services of the South (LSSS) and Lutheran Disaster Response, a ministry of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and Lutheran Church- Missouri Synod (LCMS), will offer these children an opportunity for fun and healing with Camp Noah programs this summer in Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri and Texas.
"We hope to offer 50 week-long camps during the summer of 2006," said Carol Flores, regional coordinator, Camp Noah Texas and Louisiana Gulf Coast, LSSS. Each camp hosts up to 50 children.
The week-long therapeutic camps will serve children in the U.S. Gulf Coast that were affected by the hurricanes of 2005.
"The children who are coming to our camps this summer need Camp Noah badly," said Carrie Hartwig, site coordinator, Baton Rouge, La. "They have experienced things that we wish no one would ever have to experience, and their emotional state shows it. There are so few programs to help children who have experienced disaster, and Camp Noah does just that. It helps the children to process what they have been through and to have a lot of fun in the process. Many of the children would not be able to have such an experience if it weren't for Camp Noah," she said. Hartwig's site, Trinity Lutheran Church, Baton Rouge, is hosting six camps this summer.
"Camp Noah helps to provide an opportunity for fun," said Cindy Johnson, director of disaster response, LSSM. "It helps to provide a safe environment so children can share their feelings and be supported by trained, compassionate counselors."
The Camp Noah curriculum centers on the biblical story of Noah, allowing children to confront their disaster experiences in a faith-based, supportive environment. The story of Noah provides a framework for the campers to talk about their emotions and learn disaster coping skills.
"Camp Noah is about rebuilding the lives and souls of children," Johnson said.
"It is a chance for them to gather in a place where they are the most important people for the week," Flores said. "Often kids get forgotten in disaster recovery. I think, especially in light of the scope of this disaster and the public blaming that has been happening, it is important for kids to hear the message that these storms were not their fault. They are the result of natural weather systems," she said.
Camp Noah weekly activities
Each day follows a different theme and offers a variety of activities including guest speakers such as meteorologists, emergency response personnel or police; field trips, often including a water day; indoor and outdoor games; small-group time; skits based on the theme of the day; and crafts, such as creating disaster readiness kits.
"Camp Noah is important because it provides children with the skills and tools to feel more in control of their world -- a very important step in the recovery process." Flores said.
The beginning of the week focuses on preparation and impact, using the story of Noah building the ark and the beginning of the flood. Often on the first day of camp a meteorologist teaches the children about weather systems and how to prepare for a natural disaster.
On the third day the theme is "transition" and life on the ark while waiting for the waters to recede.
"Many of the children we will be serving this summer are still living in temporary housing, often FEMA trailer parks that are vulnerable again as we come into hurricane season," Flores said. "We will be serving children in Houston who still have not had the chance to return to their neighborhoods and don't know if they will ever be able to do so. Many families have had to combine households into tiny areas, so we know some of these kids will relate to the conditions on the ark with all those animals crowded together," she said.
The final two days of the camp emphasize God's promise for new life.
"I think it is important for children to hear the message that God does not send storms to punish people, but God does promise to walk with us as we recover," Flores said. "We know this by the covenant that God made with Noah through the rainbow."
Children address fears at camp
Camp Noah offers a safe setting for children to address their fears in an effort to relieve reactive symptoms. Many of the children affected by the Gulf Coast hurricanes are beginning to show signs of emotional distress and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). According to the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, symptoms often surface several months or even years after the traumatic event.
"There have been studies telling us that the children [on the Gulf Coast] are just beginning to have an understanding of how their lives have changed," Johnson said.
A study at Columbia University, New York, compared the children displaced by hurricane Katrina with children surveyed in Louisiana in 2003. Katrina's victims were more than twice as likely to experience anxiety, depression and behavioral problems. Another assessment estimated that of the 1.2 million children that were living in Katrina disaster zones, as many as 8 percent are expected to develop PTSD.
"We have already heard stories about kids that are still having nightmares about water or about dying," Flores said. "Many children still get anxious when it storms outside."
The objectives of Camp Noah include decreasing the number of behavioral or emotional symptoms children experience following a disaster, increasing children's coping skills with bad weather and increasing children's understanding of God's role in their lives.
"We hope to provide some renewed hope as we remind them that, no matter what happens in their lives, God is always with them," Hartwig said.
In 2003 the Mississippi Center for Disease Control and Prevention conducted a multi-state evaluation of Camp Noah's effectiveness. The results showed that, after attending camp, "examples of behavioral and symptom changes included children being calmer, better able to speak about what happened to them, sleeping through the night and having stopped regressive behaviors." About 50 percent of the children surveyed also said they learned that God was with them.
"During the camps following Tropical Storm Allison, we had one young man in camp who was very angry and acting out all week," Flores said. "By the end of the week, this young man was a different child and was in front of the group leading worship. That is the power of Camp Noah."
Volunteers important to Camp Noah
The Camp Noah program provides volunteer mental health professionals that are available to the children throughout the week.
"We really want to offer a health professional at each camp that can offer ongoing mental care for the children and their families," Johnson said. "That way the camp isn't just about a week-long experience. There's an opportunity for ongoing care."
In Louisiana mental health support has been coordinated by Louisiana Spirit, "a conglomeration of social service agencies that have come together to respond to the storms," according to Flores.
As with many Camp Noah volunteers, Hartwig's camp site recruited its mental health professional through the congregation. This summer most of the camps will be organized and run by volunteers from congregations and church organizations around the country. There are more than 45 volunteer teams, including 18 teams from congregations and church organizations in Minnesota.
"Because of the magnitude of this particular disaster, it's difficult for people [along the Gulf Coast] to think of hosting Camp Noah themselves, so we rely heavily on volunteers," Johnson said. "They just don't have the resources."
Each volunteer team pays a $2,500 registration fee as well as transportation costs. Teams receive special training to participate in Camp Noah. Because the camp is free of charge for the children, LSSM relies on volunteers, donations and grants to support the program.
Each camp is expected to fill, meaning Camp Noah will serve more than 3,000 children this summer.
"Camp Noah hopes to provide children with the knowledge that God loves them and cares for them," Flores said. "We hope to provide them with a week of unique experiences, great relationships and lasting memories."
Camp Noah was created by LSSM following Midwest floods in 1997. Since then, Camp Noah has served children affected by disasters in Alabama, Florida, Indiana, Kansas, Minnesota, Mississippi, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Puerto Rico, South Dakota, Tennessee and Texas. The project is sponsored by LSSM with funding from volunteer teams, private donations and a grant from Church World Service (CWS). The ELCA participates in the ministry of CWS.
Camp Noah is open to any children kindergarten through sixth grade who have been through a disaster. While Camp Noah is sponsored in large part by the ELCA, other church denominations are involved and children are welcome to participate regardless of their faith tradition.
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More information about Camp Noah, including volunteer opportunities, is available at http://www.campnoah.org/ on the Web. Information about Lutheran Social Service of Minnesota is available at http://www.ELCA.org/disaster/.
*Katherine R. Hinck is a senior journalism and religion major at Augustana College, Sioux Falls, S.D. This summer she is an intern with the ELCA News Service.
For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or news@elca.org http://www.elca.org/news ELCA News Blog: http://www.elca.org/news/blog