Samantha Invitational

Dear Samantha Invitational players, contributors, friends and family; 

     Our family spent the weekend of July 22^nd in Arizona being a part of the first Camp Samantha.  Before starting this letter, I know that we will be unable to adequately express what this camp meant to Christina and I, our family, the thirty volunteers, and most importantly the thirty families who were here learning how to move forward in their new lives.  What we can say is that it was truly a transformational experience for all of us who were a part of it and that our thanks to all of you for funding this through The Samantha Invitational is immensely and deeply appreciated.

     Camp Samantha is led by a clinical Psychologist and is facilitated at the same time as the kid's camp in an adjacent facility.  Stepping Stones of Hope is the only organization which provides an opportunity for the grieving adults in a child's life to attend a program in conjunction with their kid's camp.  The model and curriculum mirrors the tools and activities in the kid's program with the ultimate goal of building family cohesion and strengthened communication skills.  The purpose of the weekend is to assist children and adults in their grief journey using Goldman’s four psychological tasks.  These include therapeutic activities in Understanding the loss, Grieving the loss, Commemorating the loss and Going on.  The overriding goal is to show children that they are not alone in their grief and to give them tools to learn to express their feelings in healthy ways.  The parents not only learn about their own grief but how their children grieve as well. 

     The camp began Friday with check-in and an opportunity to meet the campers.  The children were able to pick out a special quilt donated by Project Linus and a stuffed animal donated by my Uncle Bill’s friend in Illinois. There was a lot of uncertainty Friday and you could tell that both the parents and the children were apprehensive about being separated and were nervous about what the next couple of days would bring.  It was Friday night that one of the volunteers designated to provide adult supervision for one of the boys rooms had to cancel.  They needed a male who could provide supervision and be willing to “connect” with a couple of boys who had recently lost a parent.  My brother Ben did not hesitate and spent the rest of the weekend becoming “Uncle Ben” to not only those two boys but all thirty of the youths in attendance. 

       It was amazing to see the transformation in the campers from check-in on Friday to the closing ceremonies on Sunday.  Everyone bonds in a way that can only be understood by going through the camp.  In the end, Camp Samantha met its mission in helping these thirty families and the feedback that we received from the volunteers was that this was one of the best camps that SSOH has ever put together.  Why?  Because having Sam’s family present added depth and meaning to “who is Sam” and why she deserves to be the benefactor of such a weekend.  Doing this provided Christina and I a deep sense of peace and pride.    

     We are humbled and grateful to Stepping Stones of Hope and all of the volunteers for putting on such a healing weekend and are forever indebted to The Samantha Invitational participants for allowing this to happen.

Sincerely,

Clay and Christina Foutch