HEALING HEARTS
Healing Hearts shares the experience of two young boys, Dylan and Larson, as head out for a weeklong sleep away camp in Campbellsport, Wisconsin. At this camp they are introduced to other kids from across America who all share a common bond, they have lost a family member to war. Since 9/11, nearly 5,000 U.S. children have lost a parent who served in the U.S. Military. For these children, this painful loss at a tender age can lead to depression, hardship, and lifelong sorrow. Camp Hometown Heroes was launched in 2013 to provide children of the fallen with a community of support, and at long last, a path to healing. For its inaugural year, Camp Hometown Heroes invited nearly 100 kids, free of charge, to a spend a week with bonding with other children, who share their pain and sense of loss. While at the camp YMCA counselors provide the children with a week of recreation and friend-making and facilitators from Kyle's Korner provide pediatric grief counselors and art therapy programming. Friendships grow, personalities blossom, laughs are shared, tears fall, and hearts begin to mend. Most of all these children leave camp knowing that while the sorrow they feel is not something every child knows, they can take comfort in knowing that they are not alone in their struggle to heal.
2013 | 33 minutes
Director: Ryan Sarnowski
Producer: Jeffery Kurz
Camera: Jimmy Michaels, Ryan Sarnowski
Editor: Ryan Sarnowski