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Community Health Network awarded grants to bring bereavement camp to Indianapolis

For release on February 14, 2011

Funds will offer support to central Indiana children during August camp

Indianapolis, IN---Community Health Network has been awarded a $100,000 grant from The Moyer Foundation to open Camp Erin Indianapolis, a free camp designed for children ages 6-17 who have experienced the death of someone close to them. The camp will be held August 5 to 7 at SpringHill Camp in Seymour, IN.

Facilitated by a partnership of Community Health Network behavioral care and home health professionals and volunteers, Camp Erin Indianapolis will be a weekend-long experience filled with traditional, fun camp activities, combined with grief education and emotional support. Grieving children will be offered tools and resources to cope with their grief, have the opportunity to address their feelings and memorialize their loved ones. The Moyer Foundation grant will help fund the Indianapolis camp’s operations during the next ten years.

Major League Baseball (MLB) pitcher Jamie Moyer, and his wife, Karen, founded The Moyer Foundation in 2000 with a mission to help children in distress. Camp Erin, created and funded by the Foundation, is the largest bereavement camp in the United States, annually serving more than 2,500 children at more than 40 camps in over 25 states. The goal of the Foundation is to establish as many as 60 Camp Erin locations, including one camp in every MLB city.

“My wife and I are grateful to everyone who is getting involved to help support Camp Erin Indianapolis, bringing this much needed service to more children in more cities each year,” said Jamie Moyer, co-founder of The Moyer Foundation.

Additional support for Camp Erin Indianapolis is provided by the Finish Line Youth Foundation, which is granting an additional $10,000 to fund the camp’s operations and impact the lives of central Indiana youth. Community Health Network Foundation serves as the fiscal agent for all gifts designated to this project.

Rob Mifflin, a Community Health Network pastoral counselor who will oversee Camp Erin Indianapolis, said the camp will teach attendees healthy ways to cope with grief and help reduce risks for problems such as mental illness and substance abuse.

“Camp Erin Indianapolis will address the needs of grieving children by decreasing their sense of isolation and normalizing their experiences and feelings,” Mifflin said. “We look forward to working together with The Moyer Foundation and other supporters to serve the needs of central Indiana’s grieving children.”

For camp enrollment and volunteer information, please call 317-621-4800.

About Community Health Network
Ranked among the nation’s most integrated healthcare systems, Community Health Network is Central Indiana’s leader in access to innovative and compassionate healthcare services, where and when patients need them—in hospitals, in convenient health pavilions and doctor’s offices, in the workplace, at schools, in the home and online. As a nonprofit health system with multiple affiliates throughout Indiana, Community’s wide continuum of care integrates hundreds of physicians, full-service hospitals, surgery centers, physician practices, home care services, walk-in care centers and employer health services. To put the needs and the convenience of patients first, Community pioneers advanced treatments and world-class health information technologies, with a focus on exceptional care, simply delivered.

About The Moyer Foundation and Camp Erin
The Moyer Foundation – (a public, 501 (c) 3 non-profit organization) was founded in 2000 by Major League pitcher, Jamie Moyer and his wife, Karen. The Foundation’s mission is to help children in distress. With the community’s support, The Moyer Foundation creates and funds programs that directly serve the needs of children in physical, emotional or financial distress. The Foundation’s largest initiative is Camp Erin, free bereavement camps for grieving children and teens ages 6-17. With more than 40 camps in over 25 states and one in Canada, Camp Erin is the largest bereavement camp in the country, serving more than 2,500 children annually. Camp Erin is facilitated through a long term partnership with a local bereavement agency. Together, these organizations and The Moyer Foundation raise funds to help bring the healing experience of Camp Erin to children in more communities each year. For more information and to get involved go to www.moyerfoundation.org.

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Ryan Chelli, Media Relations
Ryan Chelli