On February 25th, we stood at Jameson Camp and introduced it as the home of our new program, Camp Mariposa – Aaron’s Place. Part of the Eluna Network, Camp Mariposa – Aaron’s Place is a year-round weekend camp program free of charge, for children ages 9-12 who are affected by the substance use disorder of a family member. Weekend camps offer fun, traditional camp activities combined with educational activities and support sessions led by mental health professionals and trained adult mentors.
The Need:
- 9.2 Million Children in the US Live in a home with at least one Parent who uses illicit drugs
- Children whose parents with substance misuse are 4x more likely to develop the disease
- Substance misuse before age 15 are 5x more likely to develop substance use disorder/addiction as an adult
We hope to change these statistics by offering helpful tools and ongoing support for the impacted children. For instance, In her conversation with WRTV, Julie Kurrasch, Clinical Director at Camp Mariposa explains “what makes Aaron’s Place ideal is that we take social and emotional curriculum, drug prevention curriculum, suicide prevention curriculum and we embed it into an outdoor camp model”.
The Camper Experience will provide:
- A mentor to help increase social skills and build their network
- A Coping Bag equipped with essential tools they’ll learn to use and build long term resiliency
- A campground filled a pool, rope course, firepit and plenty of opportunity for interactive fun
Starting May 2021, 30 campers will join us at Jameson Camp. To ensure support and growth continues outside of camp weekends, additional social and educational activities are offered for youth, alumni and their families throughout the year. To enroll a camper, contact our program manager Brandy Greene at brandy@overdoselifeline.org. Together, we hope to break the cycle of addiction.
If you’d like to offer your support, there are a few ways you can help:
- Sponsor a camper – $1300 will send one child to camp for an entire year.
- Donate an item from our Amazon Wishlist (the items can be delivered directly to us!)
- Share this free program with families who could benefit
Thank you to those who joined us at our Press Release to help spread the word. You can find the coverage here: