KNOX COUNTY, Ohio — A camp in Knox County called “Because I Said I Would” designed to help grieving teens and families who have lost loved ones or were affected by child abuse and suicidal ideation was burned to the ground on June 4.
The owner, Alex Sheen, said he is devastated and is calling for all community support during this time.
"The reason why it weighs so heavy is because we need those things to help these people. It's not trivial. This has set us back years and that's why we're really upset. It has nothing to do with the material possessions. Who cares? Honestly, it's about the capacity to is taken away to serve these families and bereavement and youth facing mental health adversities,” Sheen said.
Sheen has been running the nonprofit with his family for over 10 years and finally launched their dream camp in February to support teens and families in overcoming hard times.
“Mental health crisis that we're going through is not some kind of clickbait article title. It is real. And we're here to support those folks to help build resiliency skills, build new mental healthy habits in a time that’s tough,” Sheen said. “Learning things like the four types of self control, anger management, stress management, even time management."
There was no one on the property at the time but the fire took everything.
“There was nothing we could do even with our employee who was on scene first. It was already at a point of no return,” Sheen said.
The Bladensburg Fire Department reports over 40 firefighters from 11 agencies responded to the fire. It was declared a total loss.
“I think the most important thing is to try to get some temporary mobile office like if there was anybody who had that capacity who could rent us to us or lend it to us or give it to us so that we could just bridge the gap for the moment listen, we're, we're a resourceful bunch, right? We teach resiliency skills you let me and my team scrap and we will do our best. But we cannot do this alone. We really honestly wish we could," Sheen said.
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