100+ Harbor Women Who Care had already raised $102,340 before the group’s most recent night full of good cheer and charity. On Tuesday night, they added to that number with another successful night.

The 133 women in attendance at the Hoquiam Elks Lodge 1082 raised $18,220 for Camp Victory, according to Franzine Potts, one of the 10 core members who make up 100+ Harbor Women Who Care. Camp Victory was allowed to give a timed, 10-minute speech, with a question-and-answer session. Representatives from Hoquiam Food Bank and 7th Street Kids also spoke.

Camp Victory is for girls and boys who have survived sexual abuse. The organization’s been around since 1990. The boys’ camp, according to its website campvictory.us, started in 2013. To find more information about assisting Camp Victory, head to the website.

There were tears around the room as Andrea Seabert, the nonprofit’s girls’ camp director, shared about Camp Victory during a timed speech. It started with a sort of military marching song that raised the energy in the room. Seabert sang the lyrics and expected a full, choral repeat-back from the women in the room. While they were a little quiet at the start, the volume in the room amplified as more women joined in and sang each line back to Seabert.

“Well at Camp Victory

I hear laughter in the air

Well at Camp Victory

I hear laughter in the air

And I really do believe

You are beautiful to me

And I really do believe

You are powerful and free

Well at Camp Victory

I hear healing in the air

Well at Camp Victory

I hear healing in the air

And I really do believe

You are beautiful to me

And I really do believe

You are powerful and free”

Seabert then transitioned to why the song is important.

“As you go tonight, wherever it is you go after this, take that song in your heart because that’s part of what we do at camp,” said Seabert, who has deep roots in Grays Harbor.

Seabert spoke about being raised near Stewart’s Memorial Park. Her dad was a high school guidance counselor in the area. The Borden-Seabert Dog Barn at Grays Harbor County Fair is named after her mother, Judy Seabert. Both of Seabert’s parents were strong advocates for children. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.

“One of the amazing things my mom and a group of fabulous women did in this community is to start a program 35 years ago called Camp Victory,” Seabert said.

Then she warned people because they might get misty-eyed.

“Camp Victory’s a camp for kids who are survivors of sexual abuse,” Seabert said. “We don’t talk about that in our society, right?”

Seabert said she was “super grateful” to be able to bring that issue “into the light.”

“We are an all-volunteer organization,” Seabert said. “We’re about 120 folks strong. For the longest time, like this group, we were an all-women organization. And there’s power when women get together, right? But, we also knew that girls were not the only survivors of sexual abuse.”

The nonprofit serves girls aged 5-18 and boys from 7-18 who identify as survivors.

“And it doesn’t have to be proven,” Seabert said. “Even if there’s a (suspicion) that kids have been abused, because a lot of times it happened when they were pre-verbal or they don’t have the language (skills) or they haven’t been ready to report yet, so we serve kids who are appropriate for our camp. Our camp is only for kids who are survivors of sexual abuse.”

Seabert spoke about what makes Camp Victory “different.”

“It brings a little light, it brings a little safety,” Seabert said. “And for many of our kids who are in foster care, or in situations that aren’t great, they’re having to adult at eight and 12 and 15. And at camp they get to come and eat amazing food, and they play hard. So if you can imagine kids running around with a bunch of crazy adults, doing games and campfires and (then) we eat. We eat at camp, that’s no joke. That’s where your money will go, whatever you want to send my way.”

Seabert then got a little more serious.

“We remind them of the important messages: What happened to them is not their fault,” Seabert said. “So for those of you who are the auntie, the sister, the grandma, the daughter of somebody who is a survivor, bringing that into the light is part of what matters.”

Seabert said at camp, they don’t talk a lot about sexual abuse.

“Mostly what we do is crafts, archery, climb the rock wall, run around, play games, dance, and do awesome skits,” Seabert said. “And what we know is that opportunity to be with other kids in a safe space, where they’re well-held, where they’re fed really well and where they get to just be a kid matters a lot. We know it matters because kids who are survivors of sexual abuse are more likely to engage in risky sexual behavior at a very young age, substance use at a very young age and they’re not likely to finish school. And that’s not what happens with our kids.”

While it’s only a short time at Camp Victory, it sounds like it’s worth it for the children and teenagers who have gone to the camp.

“They don’t pay anything to come, the families don’t pay anything,” Seabert said.

And if a survivor shows up without a sleeping bag, Camp Victory gets them one. If they show up without a pair of tennis shoes, the camp gets them some.

“We do what we need to do so that kids can really engage and play,” Seabert said.

Her speech to the group included a story from a former camper. She said the story matters.

“It matters because one-in-10 kids — that’s boys and girls collectively — and we know it’s a much higher rate for girls, are survivors of sexual abuse before the age of 18,” Seabert said. “That’s a lot.

Seabert said the camp never asks children to talk about what happened to them, but if they choose to disclose, the camp has “processes” for that.

“Most of our volunteers are homemakers and dog trainers and who knows whatever else,” Seabert said. “But they’re not counselors. We do have counselors, I happen to be a social worker, that’s my day-to-day work. But I do camp because it’s my heart’s work.”

Seabert said the camp matters because of stories like the one a young woman shared from when she was a child who attended Camp Victory.

“She shared her story because it’s part of how she healed,” Seabert said. “I”m going to try to get through it and not be a mess.”

Survivor’s story

“20 years, it’s been 20 years since my journey began,” Seabert said as she read the story. “I was so young yet it was one of the only things that I remember from my childhood. I remember everything (including) his name, his age, the way I cried for my mom to come and rescue me. And I remember my mom and his mom opening the door and catching him in the act. I thought she was there to save me, my mom. But she froze.”

Seabert said the survivor felt “alone” for many years.

“I felt like no one understood what I was going through. I spent countless nights crying until eventually I fell asleep. I developed a fear of men, which I still have today,” Seabert said. “And after being placed in CPS custody, I bounced in and out of foster homes before finding a forever home that kept me.”

Seabert said the survivor “heard several things on a daily basis,” that would cut her self esteem.

“You are useless, you are worthless, you will always be nobody. You will never get anywhere in life and it’s all your fault,” Seabert said as she continued the story. “And for the longest time I believed every single word of it. I was 12 years old when I first met the women of Camp Victory. Some of them are survivors themselves. And for the first time in a long time, I didn’t feel alone. I felt that I had finally found a place where I knew that I belonged. I felt safe, I felt loved, I knew I didn’t have to hide my feelings. I could be who I was.”

According to the survivor’s story, it was the “positivity and good energy that getting off the bus from the moment that I stepped into camp that made a difference for me.”

“Now fast forward 12 years and I’m 24,” Seabert said. “I’m a second year buddy-in-training, which means you come and you do camp so that you can then be an adult volunteer. And I’m a first-generation college student, having just finished my associate’s (degree) and I’m starting on my bachelor’s. This is all because of these women.”

Seabert said she would “take whatever cash you want to bring my way.” She explained what that money goes toward. It’s a long list. Seabert said she’s got two asks.

“It will go to serve turkey dinner in a family-style, which is how we serve at camp,” Seabert said. “It will go to buy new arrows so when the kiddo shoots the target and puts her hands up and goes ‘I got it!’ it matters, because she has good equipment that’s set for her.”

Seabert’s second ask is that people would spread the word by picking up a brochure and dropping them off at their church, work, wherever else they spend their time. The ask is in line with one of the biggest things 100+ Harbor Women Who Care does: outreach.

Seabert wants to spread Camp Victory’s message far and wide.

“It’s in breaking open the silence that we fix this problem, hopefully for always,” Seabert said.

Contact Reporter Matthew N. Wells at matthew.wells@thedailyworld.com.