UW-Green Bay’s Camp Lloyd adds hours to help grieving kids
GREEN BAY — Camp Lloyd, a weeklong day camp for children ages 7 to 14 who are grieving the loss of loved ones, returns to the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay for its fourth year.
This year’s camp is offered Monday through Friday, June 22-26 at the Ecumenical Center on the UW-Green Bay campus, 2420 Nicolet Drive. It offers some big changes over prior camps, said camp director and creator Prof. Illene Noppe.
“Instead of a half-day program, we’ve moved to a full-day program, giving the campers more time to make friends, have fun and remember that it’s OK to be a kid, even after a loss,” Noppe said. “The extra time allows us to provide more opportunities for healing for the campers.”
Camp days start at 8:30 a.m. and last until 5:45 p.m. Prior years had campers participating only in the afternoons, Noppe said.
New activities this year include a session with therapy dogs from Compassionate Canines out of Kaukauna and a planned trip to Bay Beach Amusement Park.
Other popular activities that have been a part of camp include daily healing circles, the creation of memory boxes for lost loved ones, arts and crafts, singing songs and playing music, tie-dying shirts, kickball, broomball, swimming, basketball with the Phoenix men’s team, hiking, parachute games and more.
Camp Lloyd provides a safe and fun environment for children to learn they’re not alone in dealing with grief. It gives campers time to explore their own experiences of grief, realize their feelings are normal and find support from one another.
The Camp Lloyd staff includes 15 UW-Green Bay student counselors who form special bonds with the campers. Prof. Deirdre Radosevich, a child clinical psychologist, and Gail Trimberger, a lecturer at UW-Green Bay and licensed clinical social worker, will run the group grief support for the campers.
“We’re excited and ready to meet and work with our new kids,” Noppe said. “We want to give them a wonderful week that will hopefully help them learn how to cope and learn that it’s OK to find joy in life again.”
Camp Lloyd started as a dream of Noppe, a professor of Human Development at UW-Green Bay. She was motivated by the experience of her husband Lloyd, who lost his father at a very young age. Illene believes that had a camp like this existed for Lloyd, he would have benefited greatly from knowing that other children were coping with similar situations and emotions.
There are still several spots open for camp registration. The cost per camper is $35 for the week. The rate is $50 for the week if a family has more than one child attending. Grant funding is available for families with extenuating circumstances.
An orientation session is scheduled from 1-3 p.m. Sunday, June 21.
More information is available online here.
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