Keith Morin, now 18, was 4 years old in 2002 when his firefighter father died in a hang-gliding accident in the mountains of Vermont.
Morin remembers riding to his Dad's landing spot with his mom, and then realizing something had gone terribly wrong.
"As he was turning, my father's glider fell out of the sky," Morin recalls. "He fell like 400 feet and struck some power lines."
When his father regained consciousness after being helicoptered to a hospital, he told Keith "Everything will be OK. I love you."
Children gather in Mountain City, Ga., for a camp devoted to helping young people deal with the death of a parent or sibling.Ultimately, though, everything was not OK.
While awaiting surgery, Keith's father died of a pulmonary embolism, a blood clot that can stop a heart.
Today, Keith Morin is training to be a firefighter, just like his dad. And he has also trained to be a counselor at a camp for children grieving the death of a parent or primary caretaker - an emotion he knows well.
Morin was among 27 children who gathered at a new "grief camp" in Maine in 2009, a movement that has grown into a nationwide network of summer retreats known as Experience Camps, funded mostly by individual donors around the United States.
For the first time in 2017, an Experience Camp has taken root in the South. This week about 40 children age 12 and under have gathered in North Georgia's Camp Blue Ridge to begin to deal with the loss of a loved one.
The foundation-supported camps are free to children who have lost a parent or sibling due to illness, accident or suicide. Most of the healing comes from being around other children who share the deep emotions of loss, counselors say. Many of the staff members are either volunteer counselors or former campers.
There are Experience Camps this year in Maine, New York, California and Mountain City, Ga., which is about 140 miles east of Chattanooga in the Blue Ridge mountains. All told, the four camps will serve about 500 children this summer.
Still, the wider need is immense.
Mark KennedyView other columns by Mark Kennedy
The Journal of Hospice & Palliative Nursing has reported that about 1.5 million American children live in single-parent households because of the death of a parent. Meanwhile, studies have shown that about 85 percent of children who have lost a parent suffer from difficulty sleeping, angry outbursts, worry and/or depression.
Sara Deren, one of the founders of Experience Camps, says the camps use a "peer support" model. Kids are encouraged to talk about their grief, but mostly they swim, play games and make crafts like other children in summer camps across America.
"The benefit is just being with other kids who 'get it,'" Deren said. "We have sharing circles [at camp] where they have the opportunity to share their story. For many, it's the first time they open up about their loss."
Once in the loop, many of the children come back to Experience Camps year after year, Deren said. It sometimes takes several camps for children to completely open up about their grief. She remembers one boy, whose father died by suicide, who kept to himself at Experience Camp for four years before finally deciding to share his story.
"From that year forward, he was one of the strongest leaders in camp," she said. "He would be the first to put an arm around another child who was hurting."
Deren says her organization hopes to grow the North Georgia camp, which was purposely located near population centers such as Chattanooga.
Enrollment to next year's free Experience Camp in Mountain City will open in October, she said, and parents can apply then at www.experience.camp. Next year, the camp will accept children in grades 4-8, and it will grow by one grade level per year until eventually reaching grade 11.
Contact Mark Kennedy at mkennedy@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6645.