Camp To Belong: Never Break A Family Chain

Five years ago our Sibling Connections Executive Director, Kelley Lane sat one on one with an 11 year old sibling named Scott at his summer school program. As she introduced herself Scott quickly made it known that he wasn't attending camp that summer. Kelley, while disappointed, reassured him that attending camp was his choice and that no one would force him to go. She made a plan with Scott to check in with him after he viewed the camp video and heard more about Camp To Belong. A few weeks later Kelley recieved a call from his foster parent informing her that he decided to attend camp that summer. On the last day of camp he quietly approached her and asked if he could come back. Of course she told him, he was always welcome.

And now five years later Scott is still attending camp, and he loves every minute of it. This week he began to talk with Kelley about his love of poetry. She handed him a notebook and asked if he could create a group of poems for Sibling Connections. Right away he handed her his first poem:

(A wise woman once told me)...
"Never Break a Family Chain"
Because once you do it might not come back to you.

Here at Sibling Connections we hold onto the idea that sibling relationships for kids in foster care is one of the most important relationships in their lives and is often the longest relationships they will have. We have the opportunity to preserve these essential relationships and provide support to brothers and sisters.

Yesterday campers spent their day rotating through many of their daily activities such as archery, arts and crafts, ceramics, banana boats, swimming, and horseback riding. This summer we added Karate, which was generously donated by Foster Kids of the Merrimack Valley. Larry and Eileen Giordano, President and Vice President, traveled to camp to spend three days teaching our campers Karate. We are excited for this new partnership and are extremely grateful for their dedication and committment to helping siblings in foster care.

Here at Camp To Belong MA we break our kids up into six family groups which we identify by different colors. There's pink, purple, blue, green, orange, and red. There was much family group color spirit in the air! And yesterday everyone prepared for our first ever Camp To Belong color wars!! Pictures to come soon!!!