WBOY.com: Clarksburg, Morgantown: News, Sports, WeatherMasontown VFD Hosts Holiday Bazaar That Reaches Far Beyond Crafts

Masontown VFD Hosts Holiday Bazaar That Reaches Far Beyond Crafts

Hospice Care held a Holiday Bazaar fundraiser Saturday at the Masontown Volunteer Fire Department.

If you thought the event was all about crafts, art, and potential Christmas gifts, you'd be wrong.

Hospice Care's Holiday Bazaar is an annual event raising money for camp Nabe, a bereavement camp for West Virginia kids between the ages of seven and 17.

"The camp is for kids who have lost a loved one, either a mom or a dad, sibling, grandparents, aunt or uncle," said Chris Garbart a project coordinator for Hospice Care. "The camp is to help children through the grieving process."

Camp Nabe is free, and for the past 16 years, it hosts roughly 30 kids at the site during a weekend over the summer.

At Camp Nabe, kids can learn how to deal with their loss.

"Kids do grieve, and they grieve differently than adults," said Garbart. "And so we give them tools to use to help get them through the process."

One of those tools is the book Everyone Has Hope.

"I turned the story of my family loosing my mother into a kid's book," said the book's author and West Virginia native Jason Lynch. "It helps kids deal with loss and the disappointment. And we're very happy to help Hospice Care because they do so many good things here and all over West Virginia."

Through the bazaar, organizers plan to raise more than $3,000 this year for the camp.

The bazaar was free to enter. The proceeds were made by selling tables to vendors, as well as selling raffle thickets and concessions.

In all, organizers are just happy helping out kids across the state.

"It is so rewarding to see how the kids develop over the weekend," said Garbart. "They go from being timid and shy, not wanting to share their feelings to know that its ok to share their feelings and that is the way to grieve."