The Moyer Foundation has received a $1.5 million grant from the New York Life Foundation to expand support of its youth grief program to reach more than 9,000 children and teens across 50 locations in the U.S. and Canada over the next three years. This is one of the largest grants ever received by The Moyer Foundation, a national nonprofit that provides comfort, hope, and healing to children and families affected by grief and addiction.
Created by The Moyer Foundation, Camp Erin is the largest national bereavement program for children and teens grieving the death of someone close to them. Combining fun, traditional camp activities with grief education and emotional support, Camp Erin is offered at no cost to families and serves more than 3,000 children and teens each year. Nearly 22,000 campers have attended Camp Erin since it was created in 2002 through the support of community partners in 45 cities throughout the U.S. and Canada.
“We are proud to continue our partnership with The Moyer Foundation to expand Camp Erin’s reach to help more bereaved youth. Since the inception of our partnership in 2008, over 18,000 grieving children have been served, and we are pleased that more grieving children and families will get the resources they need,” said Maria Collins, vice president, New York Life Foundation. “Our partnership goes beyond providing financial support; more than half of the 45 local Camp Erin partners are engaged with New York Life offices around the country.”
This continuation of the national partnership between the New York Life Foundation and The Moyer Foundation strategically builds on the strengths of the model developed since 2008, and will address the increasing demands for childhood bereavement services through innovative approaches that will sustain, expand and grow The Moyer Foundation’s programs through 2018.
“We are so appreciative of the continued and generous support of the New York Life Foundation in helping us reach more of the millions of children and families affected by the death of a loved one,” said Mary FitzGerald, chief executive officer, The Moyer Foundation. “From the strong leadership of the New York Life Foundation to the amazing people at the local New York Life offices across the country, we are so grateful for their continued and impactful partnership.”
Highlights of the grant include:
- Ongoing direct support of the Camp Erin network, expanding its programmatic reach both at existing camps and at five strategically targeted new locations.
- Collaboration and building on the success of advocacy efforts to raise awareness of the issue of childhood grief on a national level.
- Engaging New York Life local staff with Camp Erin partners who will train them in a newly developed signature program, “Helping Clients Deal with Loss.”
- Development of systems to evaluate programmatic effectiveness and impact.
Childhood Bereavement Landscape:
- The Social Security Administration (1999) and the United States Census Bureau (1985) have estimated that there are approximately 1.5 million American children grieving the death of a parent on an annual basis.
- One in 20 children in the U.S. will experience the death of a parent before the age of 16.
- Grieving children are at a much greater risk than their peers for depression, suicide, poverty and substance abuse