Project Camp runs free 3-day camp at Santa Barbara Zoo for kids displaced by LA fires

SANTA BARBARA, Calif.—For children from Los Angeles County, it's a day of levity and light after days of devastation. 
 
“To be able to come to a camp that is fun and be around other kids and do normal children's stuff and play and giggle and do things other than thinking about the fire and their homes is just wonderful,” said Santa Barbara County Department of Behavioral Wellness Spokesperson Suzanne Grimmesey.
 
The need for childcare and mental health resources have spiked following the wildfires that ravaged Southern California.
 
The California Department of Education says the fires destroyed 15 schools, impacting over 5,000 students.
 
Another 61 schools are temporarily closed as of Wednesday.
 
“Whether you're an adult or a teenager trying to wrap your head around that and understand what it means now, what it will mean for your near future is you just can’t,” said Grimmesey.
 
Project Camp is filling in the gaps with the help from Santa Barbara County’s Department of Behavioral Wellness, Moxie, and dozens of local volunteers. 
 
“The greatest things that kids can say for us at the end of the day is like, ‘I’m so sad I'm leaving. I'm excited to come back tomorrow’ or ‘Can you come back this summer and run camp as well?’ They're not seeing disaster or destruction. They're not feeling a sense of victimhood. They're feeling a sense of play,” said Project Camp Founder Mikey Latner.

Kids also participated in a gratitude circle to focus on the good. 
 
“The trauma informed component is being able to be that soft catch for kids, helping them process through the fact that something has happened,” said Latner.
 
Suzanne Grimmesey with the Department of Behavioral Wellness says this short camp can have a long-lasting impact.
 
“So for these children, changing that experience by building in, yes, we were evacuated, but we went to camp and we were loved on and we had fun and we had music and we played changes their whole experience with what happened” said Grimmesey.
  
Project Camp runs through Friday from 9 am to 3 pm at the Santa Barbara Zoo. 
 
Spaces for kids and volunteers are still open on the Project Camp website.