By Val Hymes
“I want to stay here forever!”
Those were the words of a small girl at Camp Amazing Grace 2008, created especially for children of incarcerated parents. She was one of 22 children — 11 girls and 11 boys—who went to camp at the Bishop Claggett Center in the hills of Western Maryland July 6-11.
There, the children, 8-12 years old, swam, caught fish and threw them back, danced, played soccer, tie-dyed shirts, met some bugs, learned teamwork on the ropes course and heard African drums and scary stories. They even sang with a bishop, the newly consecrated Bishop of Maryland, Eugene T. Sutton.
Divided into three teams, on most days they fished in the pond, played music and worked on art and crafts. There was swimming at least once a day and worship daily plus special programs.
Success No. 3!This was the third edition of Camp Amazing Grace for children of prisoners, which is sponsored by the Prison Ministry Task Force of the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland with the support of many of its churches and generous citizens of all denominations.
Read all about the first two camps and enjoy the many photographs and even a charming radio report. Click here to enter, starting with CAG 2007.
Teenage members of the Nu World Art Ensemble played African drums, danced and sang about African-American heroes, of healing, choices and wanting “to live.” The director then invited counselors and campers to join in the dancing, singing and drumming. The children were thrilled.
Each day the campers wore different brightly colored t-shirts that also served as name tags. And they made tie-dyed shirts. They went home with green shirts embossed with the camp logo of a sunrise with a cross in its rays.
Bishop Sutton visited one afternoon. He sang a song with the campers, asked them questions and told them stories about his days at camp and how it “made a tremendous difference” in his life as a child in Washington D.C.“Can you imagine growing up and never rolling around in the grass?” he asked them.
“There’s a connection between finding God out in nature and finding God within,” he added. “By the end of this week there will be a lot of tears when you don’t want to go home. Just know that you can create a beautiful space for God in your heart that is as beautiful as this place.”
When one camper said he liked fishing in the pond, Bishop Sutton said, “I fish for people.” Then he went outside with the children to make his own meditation ball, to dip a white t-shirt in buckets of dye to make his own tie-dyed shirt and to visit the fishing pond before joining in the group photograph.
The camp theme, “Make a Joyful Noise” was put to music by the Rev. Ken Phelps and two musicians from All Saints, Sunderland, Deborah and Stefanie Watson:”… God loves all the girls and boys, loves to hear them make some noise.” Another song written by the worship musician, Liz Rozenbroek, says, “I’ve got the sun in the morning and the moon at night, and I’ll make a joyful noise to the Lord in my life…”
From Dr. Charles Collyer the children learned how Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. worked for nonviolent solutions to wrongs and about the Underground Railroad. They heard a Pete Seeger song, “If I had a hammer, a bell, a song … I would hammer out love between my brothers and my sisters,” and they watched a cartoon about anger, revenge, pain and reconciliation.
Messages of safety, responsibility and “doing good things with our hands” were woven through the educational programs. The magician, Hugh Turley, urged them through his magic to “”Stop, look and listen” and “Never talk to strangers” then gave them magic wands, top hats, “God is with you” cards and introduced them to “Stu,” his white rabbit.
The children begged the storyteller, Karen Burdnell, for scary stories, then squealed with delight during “The Man with the Black Eye.” Earlier, they heard two sacred Godly Play stories told by the Rev. Rosemary Beales.
They also had their choice of books sent by two parishes and journals to write in, compliments of a senior group at a Baptist church that also provided personal kits.
On the ropes course, the campers had to work together to be able to climb a wall or ropes or balance a tipping platform. Their reward was a flight through the trees on the zip line. One of the girls’ favorite times was what they called the “Dance Hall”— a dance competition in the hall at North Cottage. “The girls were really upset about leaving,” said counselor Anne Coble, 18. “To make them feel better, we decided to make fools of ourselves and have a dance contest…. It was a tie this year, but I think the (teenage) counselors totally won!”
Camp Amazing Grace is an oasis of care for children 8-12 years old whose parents are incarcerated. They are:
▪ loved and accepted;
▪ given the gift of a week away from the routines of everyday life;
▪ invited to spend restorative time enjoying the beauty of God's creation;
▪ encouraged to embrace their own creativity and develop life skills;
▪ offered new supportive friendships; and
▪ given the opportunity to share the love of God for all people.
Awards were given out during lunch each day and at the closing ceremonies, when special framed citations were given to the children. Then three teams — God’s Little Bombs, the Jazzy Jammers and the Wildcats -- each presented — to wild applause and hammy acting — skits that included “A Day in the Life of Camp Amazing Grace,” a rap number and a synchronized dance piece.
“I’m proud of this camp,” the Rev. Joe Rushton, staff director, said. “Because the children began to look out for each other, they got to do many other things like riding the zip line. The whole week was wonderful.”
“It was filled with grace,” said the Rev. Patrick Arey, camp director. “We learned as much from the campers as maybe they learned from us. It’s the way camp should be for these kids.”
During the final worship Friday morning, the campers were given their painted, glazed and fired meditation balls. The children had earlier made clay balls, first filling them with notes spelling out things they wanted God to change. Then they wrote a special thought on them. (Bishop Sutton wrote “Amazing Grace” on his.) The balls were then dried; the children painted them. Then they were glazed and fired in a 2,000-degree oven at the studio of pottery artist Barbara Bustard-Burnside and returned to the children.
“My heart melted during the meditation balls,” wrote Nicole Polsinelli, 17, “when the kids found hope and, if even for one week, threw away all the bad things in their lives.”
For a picture gallery of more than 70 photographs from Camp Amazing Grace 2008, click here.
Reunion!Planning is under way for a reunion Cookout Sept. 13 at the Cathedral of the Incarnation in Baltimore in cooperation with the Children’s Peace Center, and later at St. James’ Church, Irvington.
“To God, you are just as unique as the tie-dyed shirts you made,” said the Rev. Shawn Hill, who helped lead the worship services with the the Rev. Madeleine Beard and the Rev. Carol Bustard-Burnside.
Before they left, Bustard-Burnside told the children stories in the Bible about God or others anointing people to empower them to go out and do what God wants them to do. Then the counselors anointed the campers with oil by making a sign of the cross on their foreheads, sending them out from camp with words like “May God be with you.”
There was some fighting in the last hours. Some of the children were angry about going back to a home with a missing parent. For three of them, their caregivers are suffering with serious forms of cancer.
After lunch, they hugged, climbed into the big yellow bus and headed back to Baltimore. Just as the bus pulled into the parking lot of the Diocesan Center, Bishop Sutton was coming out of the building. He jumped on the bus, greeted the campers, and shouted, “Welcome back!”
“Camp Amazing Grace showed them,” said Polsinelli, “that God is listening and wants the best for them and I believe that God has given them hope and courage.”
Some final words . . .
The 27-member staff included 14 adults, 21+; 11 counselors, 16-20, and two counselors-in-training, 15-16. The 22 campers, 8-12, were divided into three teams.
In an effort to follow through with the children who “age out” of the program, two teenagers were sent with scholarships donated by St. John’s, Ellicott City, to Middle School Claggett Camp.
Nearly 40 parishes gave their time, talent or treasure to Camp Amazing Grace. And they overlapped. When St. Alban’s, Glen Burnie, donated beach towels, artist Barbara Bustard-Burnside, who attends Ascension, Middle River, embroidered them with each child’s name.
In its third year, Camp Amazing Grace is one of 21 Episcopal dioceses across the nation with camps for children of parents in the criminal justice system. It is sponsored by the Prison Ministry Task Force, co-chaired by Deacon Mimi Mathews and the Rev. Phebe McPherson and coordinated by Val Hymes. Here's a link to the Task Force home page. For more information, contact valhymes@aol.com