Experience Camps for Grieving Children Names Dr. Deborah Brooks Lawrence a New Board Member

WESTPORT, CT, April 18, 2025 – Dr. Deborah Brooks Lawrence, City Research Scientist at the NYC Administration of Children’s Services, has been named to the Board of Directors of Experience Camps, an award-winning national nonprofit that transforms the lives of grieving children through summer camp programs and innovative, year-round initiatives.

As a City Research Scientist, Dr. Brooks Lawrence contributes to pivotal work designed to improve the outcomes for marginalized children and families, immigrant populations, and disenfranchised adults. Additionally, Dr. Brooks Lawrence identifies as a “wife, mother, grandmother, fourth generation educator in the United States, witness to apartheid and civil rights, who believes in the need for universal equity and wearing cool glasses.”

For Dr. Brooks Lawrence, the Experience Camps mission is personal, having experienced the death of daughter, a life her whole family continues to cherish and celebrate. Both of her granddaughters attended Experience Camps and were part of the first group of girls in New York and then Pennsylvania at the ages of 12 and 9. They experienced “the best week ever” for nine years. It is through this experience, she and her husband watched them grow into themselves as separate entities who are now defined as more than just young ladies who lost their mother.

In joining the board, Dr. Brooks Lawrence aims to bring her professional skills and personal experience with navigating grief to the organization. She hopes to help Experience Camps with grandparent caregivers and youth development.

About Experience Camps

Experience Camps is an award-winning national nonprofit that transforms the lives of grieving children through summer camp programs and innovative, year-round initiatives. Through compassion, connection, and play, we allow grieving children to embody a life full of hope and possibility. By amplifying their voices, we are creating a more grief-sensitive culture.

Media Contact: Michelle Cove, michelle.cove@experiencecamps.org

For more information about Experience Camps, visit https://experiencecamps.org. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok.

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