A Center for Grieving Childr

The Family Summit foundation-a Center for Grieving children held 50 separate support groups. In all, we directly impacted The lives of nearly 800 children and teens throughout The year. We consistently had from 3 to 6 new Family intakes every week. During The year 2023 we had A total of 135 volunteers that participated at our Center and camp comfort. All new volunteers are trained on child, teen and adult grief issues. With The number of families that are using our services it has become imperative that we continually recruit and train new volunteers. Twice during The year, we had A candle lighting ceremony. We held one for memorial day and another at christmas time. Our families that have had A loss from death came together and one by-one lit A candle in memory of their loved ones, while saying who they were and something special about them. Our camp comfort was held in july. We had 67 children and teens participate in 2023. We had separate camp days according to age and type of loss. Our youth and teen day camps were held at The ogden nature Center. We had A barbecue along with many fun activities for The kids, which made it A very memorable day. During The christmas holiday The children and teens decorated ornaments they made to honor The person they loved that died. The children and teens took great thought and pride in making their ornaments. We used clear plastic bulbs in which The youth placed mementos, pictures, and items that reminded them of their special person. In The spring we had A balloon release. Children and teens in our divorce/separation and foster care groups used this activity to "let go" of their hard feelings. They wrote or drew about feelings that were hard for them. We then attached them to balloons and they were released together symbolically. The children and teens that had A loved one die released their balloons ceremoniously with A special note or picture to their loved one. We were able to impact The lives of children, teens and families with our workshops and presentations. These provided education and training on grief and The grief process for community agencies, schools, social workers, and other professionals. Our educational presentations for The year had A total of 211 people in attendance. Our community awareness presentations had 218.