Fort Worth Camp Mystic girls sell jewelry, raise thousands for Texas flood aid

FORT WORTH, Texas -- Coco Grieshaber, an 8-year-old Camp Mystic alumna, threaded beads into a homemade bracelet at her dining room table, sharing memories of the Texas summer camp that she left four days before flooding devastated the area on Fourth of July weekend.

She chose pink and green beads, while her 11-year-old sister Max, another Camp Mystic alumna who attended the camp in prior years, chose various shades of purple for the bracelets they were selling to raise money for a camp staffer who was impacted by the flood.

A pile of finished bracelets that read “Mystic” were scattered in between them, the word book-ended by beads with crosses or hearts. Outside their home in Fort Worth’s Tanglewood neighborhood, a “Praying for Mystic” yard sign quotes a Bible verse: the book of John, chapter one, verse five.

“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”

Coco and Max are among several Fort Worth children with connections to Camp Mystic who are making and selling homemade jewelry to raise money for the Christian summer camp for girls in Central Texas, which is still reeling from the loss of 27 campers and counselors. Gov. Greg Abbott said this week 101 people remain missing statewide, and 131 people have been pronounced dead, mostly in the Kerr County area, where the Guadalupe River rose by more than 25 feet in the middle of the night.

Coco first sold 50 bracelets through a lemonade stand last week with her friends and fellow campers Audrey and Elizabeth Hernandez, who are 8-year-old twins, she said. They sold more than $3,000 worth of bracelets in one day, selling them for as much as buyers were willing to give, in addition to lemonade, cookies and painted crosses. They’ve continued to get requests through word of mouth, raising an additional $1,500 in the past week.

Candace Hernandez, Audrey and Elizabeth’s mother, said her twin daughters have been making bracelets this week in Maui during a family vacation, as other travelers noticed the girls making them by the pool and put orders in. There have been at least 30 bracelets sold on the second largest island in the Hawaiian archipelago.

“I’m so proud of them for doing what 8-year-olds can do, and coming up with an idea and putting it all together and putting it into motion to do something good to help,” Candace Hernandez said. “Our hearts ache for those parents that didn’t get to be reunited with their daughters, and our faith reassures us that they are safe in heaven with Jesus.”

The funds are being donated to Cassie Wilson, a former camper turned camp employee whose home was damaged and car was lost to the flood and who is grieving the loss of loved ones, according to Coco and Max’s mother, Kayt Grieshaber.

“Most of us know her as the photographer who brings us so much joy of our girls at camp,” Kayt Grieshaber said. “We all looked daily for photos of our girls. Cassie was our communication line, our way of checking in on if it was a happy smile or homesick smile or living-their-best-life smile. Took this for granted but forever thankful.”

Kayt Grieshaber said the flood has hit close to home, especially with picking up her youngest daughter Coco a few days before it happened. Coco was at the Cypress Lake part of the camp, which is referred to as “new camp,” while the Guadalupe River part of the camp is referred to as “old camp.”

“You hate to have those things go through your head, but just what if? And you know, it could have been her. She was at Cypress Lake and wasn’t at Guadalupe River, but just the magic of the camp and seeing the images of it just being destroyed, it’s heartbreaking,” she said. “It just makes you sick to your stomach.”

Coco Grieshaber said she wants the impacted families to know that God is watching over them during this difficult time.

“God is right beside them, and people are praying,” said Coco, who attended Camp Mystic for the first time this year with Audrey and Elizabeth.

Her older sister Max echoed those well wishes fueled by faith, adding that the camp is a place full of special people.

“When you’re in that community, you feel safe. You’re around the people that you know you should be around,” Max Grieshaber said. “I guess that’s why they call it Mystic because it is mystical.”

For those who wish to purchase a bracelet, donations can be sent to Kayt Grieshaber on Venmo, a money-sharing app, at @Kathryn-Grieshaber. She can also be contacted at kmgrieshaber@gmail.com.

Bandanna necklaces sold through local boutique

Allie Grace Anderson, 12, decided to make her contribution to Camp Mystic and general flood relief efforts for Kerr County through necklaces made of pink and green bandannas and unique charms. She’s the daughter of a Kerrville native, who helped with cleanup in the area alongside Anderson’s brother last weekend. The family also attended a service for Renee Smajstrla, who was one of the 27 victims of the Camp Mystic flooding.

With the help of friends and neighbors, some of whom are Camp Mystic alumni, the group of children have made and sold more than 300 necklaces for $40 each and raised almost $14,000.

Bekah Hale Pollock, owner of Hale House boutique on Camp Bowie Boulevard in Fort Worth, used her shop’s online store as a way to sell the jewelry. Adding other sale contributions from Hale House, the group has raised a total of $20,000, Hale Pollock said.

The necklaces were listed as sold out online on Wednesday.

“It makes me feel really happy and really hopeful that we make a lot of money to send down there. And it was exciting — while we were making the necklaces, we’d get a text saying, ‘I’ll order five’ — ‘I’ll order like 10,’” Allie Grace said. “When they wear them, they can think about that they donated money to Camp Mystic.”

This handmade-jewelry fundraising effort was also based in Fort Worth’s Tanglewood neighborhood.

“It’s all of Tanglewood neighborhood kiddos that have just been in and out of our house,” Hale Pollock said. “We praise them for doing this, but I don’t think they really understand how much they’re doing… it’s just so incredible.”

Alongside Allie Grace, Cate Heiszek was among those who helped make the necklaces. Cate, a three-year Camp Mystic alumna, was there a week prior to the flood. Her schedule included arts and crafts, drawing, dance, fishing, archery, riflery, volleyball and free swim. She also recalled the competitions between Camp Mystic’s two “tribes,” the Tonkawas and Kiowas, which are comparable to houses or sororities that campers get assigned to when they first arrive at camp.

Heiszek said making the necklaces reminded her of her first year at Camp Mystic when she relied on her older peers to show her the ins and outs.

“It just makes me remember my first year, when I was a little kid needing help from the bigger kids,” she said. “Now, me being a bigger kid helping the littler kids, just reminds me of that.”