OUR CAMP WAS FOUNDED
IN MEMORY OF JOJO GREENBERG
Who Is Jojo?
Meet Jojo. The Story Behind Camp Jojo
We created Camp Jojo out of love and loss, as a living memorial to Jojo Greenberg who died by suicide in 2017 at the age of sixteen. In the summer of 2018, a group of two dozen former friends and counselors from Jojo's favorite summer camp in Colorado embarked on a hike dressed in bright and silly attire in honor of our spirited girl. Once we summited Mount Royal, we shared memories of the beautiful soul who left us too soon. We alternated between tears and laughter as we recalled tales of her who made so many of us many of whom had known and adored Jojo Greenberg during her time at Keystone Science School summer camp. After scattering some of Jojo’s ashes, Jojo’s former camp director Joel Van Egbert announced that he wanted to create a summer camp to help kids like Jojo and to assist teens who have lost loved ones to suicide by empowering them with the tools to heal and work towards suicide prevention.
By the following summer, Joel and Jojo’s mom Sonya Spielberg had created a nonprofit summer camp dedicated to helping teens who had lost a loved one to suicide. The first year, in 2019 we had an attendance of fifteen campers outside Boulder, Colorado. Over the week, the teens participated in white water rafting, rock climbing, and other traditional camp activities. More importantly, we held training sessions to teach teens to screen their friends for signs of suicide risk, advising them how and when to seek help. In the evenings, the teens would process the day's events around a campfire, sharing stories and experiences that they could only share in a community of open-hearted teens and counselors who had experienced similar grief. Over the three summers, we have served over sixty kids; several of who told us that the suicide prevention skills they acquired have saved lives, including their own.
Camp Jojo embodies the essence of Jojo herself. In her sixteen short years, she lived a sparkly and joy-filled life. She had many friends, all of whom considered themselves to be her best friend because Jojo was so good at offering her love and advice. She excelled at karaoke, volleyball, dancing, silly iPhone selfies, all things related to camp and just being a goofball overall. She loved snowboarding, Colorado, hiking, loud colors, t-shirts with flying cats in space, and rap music. But her open-heartedness and loud husky laugh was her signature. She perhaps felt too much, both the highs and lows of life, but in a more extreme form. The difficulties of adolescence and everyday events were magnified by her too-large heart and the depression that would cloud her thoughts. Jojo's family struggled with her to battle the bipolar depression that would eventually claim her life.
Camp Jojo is dedicated to her love and legacy with the idea that we can have conversations about suicide and loss, destigmatizing both the word and the conversation. If we do so, we can reach and help teens in crisis. And let them know that they are not alone.ersation. If we do so, we can reach and help teens in crisis. And let them know that they are not alone.
