For 6 years, Westport has supported the Day of Champions.
The spring event draws a few dozen teams — families and friends, kindergarten through adult — to PJ Romano Field.
They compete on an obstacle course, doing hula hoops, dancing and more. It’s like a family-friendly, fiercely competitive (and fun!) camp color war.
The Day of Champions raises over $200,000 for Experience Camps. Since 2009, the Westport-based non-profit network of summer camps and other resources has provided a way for boys and girls who have lost a parent or sibling to share their grief with peers, volunteers and trained professionals who understand, in a loving, supportive (and fun!) environment.
Soon, the tight connection between our town and this national organization headquartered here will grow even tighter.
Experience Camps’ 7th location will open in the summer of 2025, at KenMont and KenWood in Kent, Connecticut. It will offer local youngsters — who previously had to go to Maine or Pennsylvania — a chance to appreciate the compassion, connection and play of Experience Camps, and find a life full of hope and possibility.
KenMont and KenWood’s grounds include a lake for swimming, canoeing and kayaking; athletic fields and courts, a ropes course and go-kart track.
Sara Deren — founder and CEO of Experience Camps — is excited that children and teenagers from Westport and nearby towns will benefit from the organization that over the years has enjoyed so much support from residents here.
The pool of potential campers is large. Deren says that 1 in every 12 people will experience the death of a parent or sibling by the age of 18. Experience Camps has a wait list of 200. 90% of campers return each year, drawn by the power of a week with other kids, counselors who have also lost loved ones, and therapists who help them process their feelings (while having a ton of fun).
The Connecticut camp is the first in a series of expansions. Deren says they’ll open 1 to 2 new locations each year, after KenMont and KenWood in 2025.
Running those camps takes money. This year’s Day of Champions — a major fundraiser — will be more important than ever.
It’s May 19 (8:30 a.m., PJ Romano Field). Click here to register. Volunteers are needed too, to help the event run smoothly. To help, email gerygrove@gmail.com.
For more information about Experience Camps — including volunteering as a counselor, medical professional, social worker or another capacity — email sara@experiencecamps.org.
Last year’s Day of Champions, at PJ Romano Field.
ONE MORE EXPERIENCE: Experience Camps works year-round to help grieving children and teenagers.
Their newest project is “Grief Sucks.” Aimed specifically at teenagers — and with the tagline “join us in a movement to make it suck less” — the website says,
“Screw school pamphlets, unhelpful grief groups, and people saying ‘sorry for your loss.’ It’s time to get real about grief. We’re in this together.”
The platform offers videos and posts on subjects like “Why the ‘5 Stages of Grief’ is a Big Fat Lie,” “Is it OK to Experience Joy When I’m Grieving?” and “Super Cringey Things People Said to Cheer Me Up.”
It strikes just the right tone for teens. And it’s a great way to reach the many youngsters who cannot attend an Experience Camp.