Project:Camp in Los Angeles may look like a typical kid’s camp, with everything from arts and crafts to jump rope, but there’s more at play.
Every child at the camp has been impacted by the recent wildfires. Like 9-year-old Rose McCabe, whose Altadena school burned to the ground, leaving only the sign still standing.
“There was a fire and our whole school burned down. And my friend Olivia’s school burned down. And my sister’s friend’s school burned down,” Rose said.
She said it made her “sad,” adding, “I don’t really know what’s gonna happen. What is the new school we’re going to?”
Saffron Skarbek, a fourth grader, said that while her home was spared, some of her friends’ houses were destroyed.
“Sometimes we continue on with our lives and sometimes we kind of talk about it,” she said.
Project:Camp operates all over the country, materializing within days in communities hit by natural disasters.
“Our entire program is trauma-informed, which means while these kids are running around, having a great time, there’s a latticework of trauma-informed care underneath it,” said Ozzie Barron, a co-founder and deputy director of the camp. “So the program is designed to help these kids process in ways natural to kids. They process through play. They process through talking to each other.”
Rose’s mother, Karen McCabe, who has been bringing both of her daughters to the camp, is thankful for the service.
“I know for kids that what they need is normal play, they need other children,” she said. “When I heard about this I was like, ‘The kids are going to be OK.’”
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