Helping children and youth to make sense of their grief, through healing camp experiences
Why Camp Firefly?
Come join us for a weekend and discover the transformative power of “grief camps”. It is free to attend for all grief campers.
Camp Firefly mixes summer camp adventures with grief-therapy activities. We create a safe and engaging space for children and youth who are grieving. This allows them to: grieve the deaths and losses of their loved ones, connect with other kids experiencing the same painful feelings as they are, and begin learning how to process those feelings in healthy ways. Our camp is creative, young at heart, and a lot of fun too.
The fun is a big part of what makes the emotional growth possible.
The Last Camp Firefly (2026)
Camp Firefly 2026 was a special experience.
Last year we officially turned Camp Firefly into a “family grief camp”, which means that we welcomed parents and caregivers to join their kids if they wanted to. We believe that healthy grieving and healing can often happen in bigger ways when it’s done at the family level. So last year we supported 60 youth grief campers and 30 of their adult caregivers along with them. What a weekend it was!
We ran it again as a 2 day and 1 night grief camp, with the vast majority of our campers deciding to stay overnight in the lovely cabins on site. We did some meaningful grief activities and ceremonies of course, which were really special. And we also had a ton of fun too! We brought back our famous Giant Slip N’ Slide last year, and the pool was a big hit again as always. Fishing was great, so was archery, wall-climbing, and zip-lining. And we finished off Saturday night with the biggest glow-in-the-dark dance party. There are just so many different ways to have fun at Camp Firefly. And “fun” is a big part of what gives our grief campers the bravery and confidence to take on the heavier emotional stuff. It’s all connected.
Thank you to all our lovely volunteers who worked with the families, they are the absolute best in the business. And most of all: thank you to the brave and powerful grief campers, both younger and older, who came out and showed us what “healthy grief” really looks like.
They are an inspiration to us all.
The Next Camp Firefly (2027)
This year’s Camp Firefly will take place on
August 7th to 8th, 2027.
And it will be held at “Camp Manitou” once again.
Sometime in mid-January, we will be opening applications for Camp Firefly 2027. So please check back around that time. There will be a link on the bottom of this page that will take you straight to the application form.
We will again be running it as a “family grief camp”, which means any parents or family members or support staff … are welcomed and encouraged to come along with their kids to camp. There is something special for everyone at Camp Firefly.
But until applications open up, if you have any questions at all, please feel free to send us an email anytime.
We are honoured to offer this grief camp to families from our hometown of Winnipeg, Manitoba. Thank you for helping us to grow Camp Firefly beyond our wildest dreams.
And always remember: we’re in this together!
❤️
Donate to Camp Firefly
Your donation could help send a child to grief camp.
Camp Firefly is proudly registered as a non-profit charitable organization with the CRA. This means that when you make a donation to Camp Firefly, you can claim some of that money back when you file your taxes each year. And to keep it simple and seamless, we will email you a tax receipt immediately after you donate.
Your donation will help change the lives of grieving youth in Winnipeg, and we are infinitely grateful for your support. Thank you.