In south central Iowa, it is not uncommon site on a clear day to see hot air balloons crossing the rolling hills. With the National Balloon Museum in Indianola serving as a hub for enthusiasts, the hobby has become part of the fabric of the community. The culmination of the season comes with the weeklong National Balloon Classic celebration at the end of each summer that sends hundreds of balloons soaring above the Iowa landscape.
In April, EveryStep’s Amanda the Panda team welcomed a group of kids and youth to take flight like those balloons in their journey through grief.
“Soaring Your Way Through Grief”, a daylong camp for those who’ve suffered a recent loss in their life, was held at Creston Elementary School. Vanissa Spencer, Amanda the Panda’s Rural School Coordinator, says there are corollaries to be drawn between the two kinds of journeys. “We use it as a play on words meaning to navigate a challenge in your life with confidence. We designed this camp to give participants confidence while navigating the challenges and losses they have been through,” Vanissa says.
Ballooning wasn’t the only form of transportation the kids used as metaphors. Their day began with a “surfing lesson”. Kids built and designed paper surfboards – including messages about their feelings and those whom they've lost. They then “rode” their surfboards on waves of emotion created by a parachute waved by their fellow campers.
Vanissa says these activities are carefully crafted to help deal with their grief without actually knowing they’re doing it. “Participants engaged in activities designed to help them identify and verbalize their emotions, developed coping strategies for managing heightened emotional responses, and built peer connections with fellow participants,” Vanissa says, “They worked in similar-aged groups to share their loss experiences and created personalized tools to use when emotions become elevated.”
The annual camp is offered free of charge to area kids and youth who are dealing with a recent loss in their home – be it the death of a loved, a change of guardianship, or a parent who is incarcerated. No two people grieve the same way, and the process is even more difficult to navigate for kids. Amanda the Panda and its grief groups and camps are there for families, schools, and any community in need of a guiding light on that journey.
While Amanda the Panda staff and volunteers are there to lead the way, Vanissa says the kids are learning to heal themselves. “My favorite part of camp is always watching the participants form relationships with other participants that they might not have had the chance to meet if it weren't for camp,” she says, “The participants' favorite part is all the tools that they make to take with them to use when they are having a tough emotional day.”
