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Losing someone you love is life-altering, but for a child it can be especially devastating. While children feel the loss deeply, they often don’t have the words to talk about it or get help.  Some even think they’re responsible for the death of their loved one.
 
Mercy Care, the area’s oldest, non-profit hospice, will host its annual “Camp Happy Hearts” on Saturday, October 19, 2013. The camp is from 10:00am to 1:30pm at Christ United Methodist Church in Fantasy Harbor. Any child in the community who has suffered a loss – through the death of a loved one, foster care placement, divorce, or abandonment – is welcome to attend. Camp Happy Hearts was started over 15 years ago to assist area youth in their recovery of lost loved ones.
 
Camp Happy Hearts is held twice annually to give children and their families a great time while also offering them a chance to honor the memory of their loved one experienced in different ways.  Whether the children are making “memory boxes” for a mother or grandfather they are missing, or blowing them “bubbles to heaven,” they learn it’s all right to grieve and even better to laugh.
 
Funding for the camp is made possible through many kind donations and through the fund-raising efforts of Mike and Suzie Wheeler, who host a golf benefit each spring.
 
“There is such an incredible need in our community for programs like Camp Happy Hearts,” says Sara-Jo Faucher, executive director and CEO for Mercy Care. We have seen hundreds of children from all across Horry, Georgetown and Marion counties attend this special camp.  When a child suffers a loss, it is imperative to help them grieve in healthy ways.  Oftentimes, children do not realize that it is normal and okay to laugh and be silly.  They tend to feel guilty for wanting to be children.  Camp Happy Hearts is an outlet for them to explore all their feelings – sad, happy and mad –that are all normal and okay.”
 
Camp Happy Hearts is one component of Mercy’s comprehensive children’s program. Mercy offers individual and group counseling for suffering children.  Mercy works closely with the school systems and Department of Social Services to identify children who can benefit from working with our highly trained counselors.
 
Mercy Care was founded in 1981 to bring a special program of caring to patients with life-limiting illnesses and families suffering from loss Mercy Care continues to provide the highest quality of care to patients and their families dealing with advanced illness in Horry, Georgetown and Marion counties.
 
For more information on Camp Happy Hearts, contact Tom Badurski, director of special projects, at 843.848.6480 or visit www.mercyhospice.org.