On behalf of the participants from Camp Solace (a weekend camp in Lake Tahoe supporting grieving children and teens who have experienced a death) and myself Monica Gonzalez, we would like to express our sincere gratitude to six amazing Winnemucca volunteers who dedicated their weekend to supporting 51 campers. Your big hearts, presence, listening ears, and extensive play merged a taboo topic into a healing process. Big thank you to Jamie Uhlig, Shellie Cooney, Lily Avalos, Yoana Chavez, Brittney Lopez and Katie Garijo. Your light shines through. Also, Thank You to Winnemucca Farms, Bella Grazia, and Estella McEwen for your in kind donations.
As a result of such amazing community support, it warms my heart to share Winnemucca will soon have it's own grief peer support group, The Hope Tree, modeled from The Solace Tree Grief Center in Reno. I'm privileged to be working in conjunction with other compassionate individuals under the umbrella of Frontier Community Action Agency. There will be a volunteer training for individuals in the community interested in learning more about grief and how we can support children, teens and families through a death, as well as, the important role we have as a society in breaking the taboo of talking about death. The training will be a 16 hour commitment to be held Sept. 5 - 7. Contact Alaine Nye at the Frontier Community Action Agency for more information at 623-9003.[[In-content Ad]]
