CSC Volunteers Work to Give Grieving Children a Memorable Summer

Photographed is Paul Mathews, Lyn Gares, Josh Brindle, Caitlin Alaburda, Julia Ortiz, Shannon Rupinski, Anne Mathay, and Natasha Evans

The kids attend Delaware Hospice’s Camp New Hope at Lums Pond State Park in Bear, Delaware. Besides offering traditional camp activities, Camp New Hope gives them the chance to work through their grief and loss with their peers. The campers range in age from 6 to 17.

Anne runs her own nonprofit, Hank’s Hope, which provides resources and support to women and families who have lost an infant or a pregnancy. She’s worked with Camp New Hope in the past and was eager to lend a hand.

“Camp New Hope is a great program for a great cause. And we wanted to help out,” Anne explains. “We unpacked this giant trailer that was full of all sorts of camp supplies. We set up and decorated a giant pavilion that they used as the central base for the camp.”

The volunteers also hung banners and moved tables around so the campers would have a place to sit and filled coolers with drinks donated by Wawa. “We organized their supplies back in the trailer,” she says, adding that the items in the trailer had to be secured overnight.

Anne has always had an interest in volunteering and wanted to make sure the team did something in 2021 because they were unable to help last year because of the pandemic. Last year’s camp was virtual because of COVID-19, so this was the first time kids were able to attend Camp New Hope in person since 2019. The cost of attending the four-day camp is completely offset by donations.

“One of CSC’s mission performance indicators for Thrive 25 is transcend. So we definitely leveraged working together to do something good for the community,” she says. “Volunteering is very close to my heart because of what I do outside of work. Volunteering is such a big part of CSC.”

The other volunteers who worked with Anne included Paul Mathews, Lyn Gares, Josh Brindle, Caitlin Alaburda, Julia Ortiz, Shannon Rupinski, and Natasha Evans.

Through bereavement exercises, campers have opportunities to interact with others who have experienced loss. Group projects, individual support, education, and free time allow them to process emotions and ask questions. A special memorial service at the end of camp celebrates and honors the life of each child’s loved one.

Camp New Hope’s directors are nationally recognized Moyer Foundation grief camp counselors and are highly sought-after advisors to similar programs around the country.

As a company, giving back is ingrained in our culture. It’s who we are and who we’ll continue to be. Efforts like Anne and her peers’ are just one example of the significant impact employees are having as they set out to make our environments better off tomorrow than they are today. Learn more about CSC’s philanthropic work at cscglobal.com/service/careers/csc-gives-back.