Westport-Headquartered Nonprofit Camps for Children Dealing with Loss in Running for $1 Million Grand Prize

Experience Camps, with office headquarters in Westport, CT, are extraordinary one-week camps for boys and girls that offer support and joy and joy to kids whose loved ones have died.

Currently, this nonprofit organization is participating in a nationwide $1 Million Challenge to see which charities can raise the most fundraising money and win a $1 Million bonus – and Experience Camps is in 2nd place!  Experience Camps staff, volunteers and campers from around the country are rallying to win this challenge.  The goal is to help many more children who have suffered an unthinkable loss by sending them to Experience Camps, which everyone who attends calls “the best week of the year.”  For more information and to donate, click here.

Westport’s Sara Deren is the founder and Executive Director of Experience Camps, which started in 2009 with 27 campers at Camp Manitou in Maine. The nonprofit was founded when Sara and her husband Jon became determined to provide the camp experience to children who would not otherwise have that opportunity.

Sara says, "We have an opportunity to win a $1 Million prize that is rarely, if ever, seen in the non-profit world. The support of our donors, along with the potential of a winning outcome, would transform our organization and the lives of thousands of children that would be served through our camps and programs. We have already committed to opening a 4th location and sending over 400 grieving children to camp next summer. Our future growth depends on the fundraising and sustainability that we are establishing right now through this Crowdrise campaign and other efforts to spread the word about what we do." 

Sara uses her prior business background and love of camp to develop and operate Experience Camps, ensuring that campers enjoy the best that summer camp has to offer.  Today more than 300 kids at three locations gather together to navigate their grief through a combination of activities led by licensed clinicians and pure sleepaway-camp fun.

As further background, Experience Camps is a place where kids can cry, play, create, remember the person who died, or forget the grief that weighs them down. It's a place where they can feel "normal," because everyone there has been through something similar and understands what it's like to lose someone important to them. It's a home away from home for these children.

Experience Camps Video

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Submitted by Westport, CT

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