Camp HOPE: Summer camp for children who have witnessed, experienced domestic violence seeks donations

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. – In search of safety, many survivors of domestic abuse leave in the summer, and most are not alone when they do it.

“Every year, we have about a thousand people that we help in the shelter, and half of them are kids. Around 250 of them are coming in just between the months of June, July and August,” Harbor House of Central Florida CEO Michelle Sperzel said. “A lot of times, when people think about domestic violence, they don’t think about the kids. They think about the two adults who are in the situation, and they don’t think about that when someone’s leaving, they come in with their entire family. They’re coming in with the kids, they’re coming in with the pets.”

Harbor House of Central Florida gives survivors life-saving services, including shelter. Sperzel tells News 6 that summer is a time many leave because their children are out of school.

“It’s one less thing of, ‘How am I to get the kids from here to there?’ So, we see a really big increase in people who are reaching out for shelter during that time,” she said.

To give the children of survivors a sense of normalcy and stability, they started Camp HOPE,

“Our camp program is a year-long program, and it is set up so we can help the kids with resiliency and understanding different coping skills throughout the year,” Sperzel explained.

The highlight of the program is its weeklong summer camp, a unique sleepaway camp for those who have witnessed or experienced domestic violence. The evidence-based and values-based curriculum is specifically designed to help kids build resilience, the ability to overcome adversity and trauma and to increase hopefulness about the future.

To help provide the children with the resources needed for the camp, Harbor House invited the community to come out and “Cram the Van” by donating items to the children on Saturday outside the Orange County Sheriff’s Office.

“A lot of our families, they can’t afford to be able to buy all the supplies that you need (for sleepaway camp.) What they’re doing here is helping raise awareness that we need sleeping bags, we need insect spray, we need shoes, we need towels,” Sperzel said.

If you could not make it out but still want to help, you can donate monetarily to ensure a child gets the help they need while having fun.

“It’s $250 to sponsor a camper for the entire week and covers all of their resources, food, everything that they’re going to need to have a really great camp experience,” Harbor House Young Professionals Board Member Sylvia Tough said.

Fore more information on how to donate or to see their donation wish list, visit their website.

Victims of domestic violence can call the National Domestic Violence Hotline, available 24 hours a day at 800-799-7233.

Harbor House of Central Florida offers a 24-hour confidential crisis hotline, reachable at 407-886-2856.