carole darby
carole's fundraiser for the Wendt Center for Loss and Healing
Fundraising for Wendt Center for Loss and Healing
Story
This past April marked 40 years since my best friend was part of a family annihilation. The adults in my life, as well as my brother, were immediately robbed of normalcy and optimism. This was the start of a long, grim ride until I learned of the Wendt Center, 32 years later.
As one of their volunteers, I am a unique witness to the healing they bring to countless lives. This is where the bandages of wounded souls are applied. This is where hearts are heard. Tragedies are acknowledged and fears are released. Every word is supported and when words fail, emotion is understood.
There's nothing more redeeming than being seen. To feel inexplicably alone and then one day, meet people who not only see you but want to hear you and somehow know how to help you, is an almost infantile experience: a primal feeling of being so small, climbing into a care-person's lap, reaching for safety with our little arms around their neck and finally resting upon these shoulders.
Kindness glows at The Wendt Center like a soft neon sign that's always on.
Camp Forget-Me-Not/Camp Erin-DC demonstrates healthy emotional processing to children but now goes a step further by including the caregivers. They need support and coping tools for themselves and for those that rely upon them. It's tiresome having to drag one's own luggage down an unknown path but it's exhausting to carry someone else's. We all need help, at least a little bit, sometimes.
Camp Forget-Me-Not/Camp Erin-DC offers a full day of activities and grief workshops to help explore a variety of ways to express oneself while developing bonds with others.
Youths in our area are suffering from effects of homicide, suicide, drug overdoses, and other causes in our area. The statistics are at critical levels and the emotional health of our communities are at stake.
That's not to imply every death is a horrid experience but what matters is how the ones left behind are living with the loss.
Every action has a reaction. Grief impacts the entire family system and pours out everywhere we go, marring in its wake. We need to face the process, help each other walk through it and know that we are not alone.
Camp Forget-Me-Not/Camp Erin-DC is provided free of charge because of generous contributions from donors.