Continuing our season of gratefulness, we want to give a huge THANK YOU to Children’s Disaster Services (CDS) and Camp Noah for the work they do and for the opportunity to join them in their mission! CDS and Camp Noah are both members of National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (NVOAD) and two of the very few who specialize in working with children after disaster.
CDS provides services in the immediate days, weeks, and
sometimes months after a disaster has struck. They train, organize, and deploy volunteer teams to meet the needs of children in shelters, Family Assistance Centers, and Multi-Agency Resources Centers, to name a few. They work with the American Red Cross and FEMA and also have ability to deploy independently if necessary. CDS focuses on providing physically and emotionally safe play areas for children to engage in child-lead play and begin the work of processing their experiences and their changing reality. CDS responds to both natural and man-made disasters providing a much-needed and specialized service to children and families. CLDR is grateful for a dynamic partnership with CDS and for the opportunity to join them in the work they have been doing since 1980. Child life specialists with CLDR have been able to respond with CDS and have found challenging and deeply enriching experiences utilizing their play-based skills.
Camp Noah is a nationally recognized preparedness and resiliency day camp offered to elementary age children in communities 6-18 months after a disaster or crisis. Camp Noah provides a safe and caring environment where children 
build resiliency skills within the familiarity of their own communities. They use a proven curriculum designed to help children process their disaster and/or trauma experience through creative activities and play. Camp Noah celebrates every child as special. In this safe and supportive setting, children are encouraged to face their fears, grieve their losses, identify and share their unique gifts and talents, and plan for an amazing future! Child Life Disaster Relief is grateful for this developing partnership with Camp Noah and looking forward to integrating more CLDR members into camps next season.
We look forward to the on-going development of opportunities and growth through these two partnerships and are grateful to work together to meet the needs of children after disaster.
