Six families and eight Midwest Children’s Burn Camp (MCBC) Volunteers gathered at Camp Taum Sauk over Indigenous People’s Weekend for Burns Recovered’s inaugural Family Camp!  For the first time ever, family members of current and new campers were able to experience a mini-camp and see first hand what their young people’s experience is like as a camper at MCBC.  Families challenged themselves on the high ropes course, engaged in a little friendly competition at the archery range, and worked together to create family portraits using items found around Taum Sauk’s campus.  Each family stayed in their own cabin and ate meals in a communal setting to foster an environment of camaraderie and friendship.

There was also time set aside during the day just for the adult family members of burn survivors to meet as a group.  Led by Burns Recovered’s Director of Peer Support, Kanisha Anthony, the adults were able to discuss the unique challenge they experience in loving and caring for a burn survivor and offer on-going support to each other.  Ms. Anthony described the meetings as very impactful, especially in “Seeing adults be able to find solutions to their shared problems; they were able to see that they weren’t alone in a lot of situations that they thought they were.”

Burns Recovered looks forward to offering this program on an annual basis and will open up applications to all families who are part of the Burns Recovered community in 2023.  We extend our sincerest thanks to the staff at Camp Taum Sauk, who welcomed us to campus on one of the coldest weekends in October with open arms, warm food, and fellowship.