Cedar Rapids church hosts summer camp designed to help kids cope with trauma

Aug. 4, 2022 9:31 am

Volunteers and children sit under a parachute at a Camp Noah event that took place in Naperville, Illinois, in June. (Submitted photo)

Children show off water balloons at a Camp Noah event that took place in Naperville, Illinois, in June. (Submitted)

A volunteer and a child play together at a Camp Noah event in St. Paul, Minnesota. (Submitted)

A Cedar Rapids-based church is hosting a free weeklong camp in August to help children cope with traumas related to the 2020 derecho and other crises.

Camp Noah is a program developed by the Lutheran Social Service of Minnesota after a flood in 1997. Now the camp is held across the country in response to natural disasters and other difficulties. It will be hosted this year by Gloria Dei Lutheran Church in Cedar Rapids to help 41 kids from Cedar Rapids and the surrounding areas affected by the derecho. The camp has come to Cedar Rapids once before, in 2009 as a response to the flood of 2008.

The day camp will take place from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. each day from Aug. 8 to 12 at Gloria Dei. Registration for the camp is full, according to Lisa Fuglaar, administrative assistant at Gloria Dei.

The camp will include music, games and other activities designed to “enable children to process their feelings and fears, develop resiliency and coping skills and make new friends,” according to a news release about the event.

Campers also will be given a free preparedness kit filled with emergency items, like flashlights, first aid kits and emergency information cards. Camp Noah T-shirts also will be provided to the kids, as well as breakfast, lunch and snacks.

“This is a great opportunity for kids in our community to meet new friends, have fun and tell their own disaster story,” Shannon Johnston, site coordinator for Camp Noah at Gloria Dei Lutheran, said in the release. “There are many personal storms that we all face in life. Our goal is to give kids special support and teach them skills they can use to face challenges now and in the future with confidence and hope.”

The free camp, which cost $25,000 to fund, is being paid for by Lutheran Services in Iowa. Lutheran Services also put $7,000 toward transportation, so that no children are excluded from the camp because they don’t have a way to get there.

Gloria Dei is searching for volunteers to help run the camp. For more information, call Lisa Fuglaar at Gloria Dei at (319) 396-2641.

Comments: (319) 398-8328; emily.andersen@thegazette.com