Last week, approximately 20 children participated in the second annual Greenhouse and Community Wellness day camp and learned about building resiliency and healthy food.
Samantha McKay/NNSL photo
"There's a real belief for us that doing a wellness camp and doing a greenhouse camp is about building resiliency," said Lisa Keegan, one of the camp's organizers. "Kids are busy, there's no doubt about that, they have lots of energy. So I think giving them the tools to even just slow down for 60 seconds and practice some deep breathing, that's a tool for their toolbox that they can carry forward in their lives."
Keegan said at the start and end of each day, campers participated in a few moments of silence and meditation.
"We're giving the kids tools for slowing town, for mindfulness, and for integrating that into their daily lives," she said. "They can use these tools in moments of stress, or trauma, or grief, whatever those more challenging moments may be. When we're talking about resiliency, we're talking about having tools to fall back on for coping."
The camp, which took place July 3 to 6 from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., was open for kids ages seven to 13.
Campers had the opportunity to participate in activities like bead making, rock painting, chalk art, gardening, yoga, harvesting food and preparing food for their lunches.
A focus of the camp was to teach the kids about sustainable, healthy food. Keegan said nutritionists from the hospital visited the campers to talk about healthy eating.
"One of the dietitians was able to give an example where he brought several empty juice containers and pop containers and was showing the kids how many teaspoons of sugar were in one bottle of juice or pop," she said. "From that, we had some kids decide themselves that they wanted to cleanse from sugar for 24 hours. It was interesting to see how it had an impact on them so immediately."
Each day of the camp had a theme that was meant to build on the previous day – Tuesday's was seeds and soil, Wednesday's was bugs and bees, Thursday's was flowers and vegetables and Friday's was watch us grow.
Keegan said on the first day of camp, each child was given a flower pot in which they planted a metaphorical seed – a marble – and then were invited to write positive messages, affirmations, or pictures to each other throughout the week and place them in each other's pots.
"Today, on the last day, each kid will get to open their flower pot and see that their seed has turned into these beautiful things," she said. "They'll get to have and keep these with them as a souvenir from their time at camp."