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A famed Virginia summer camp “may never open” again in the wake of lawsuits alleging rampant sexual abuse of teenage girls who attended, according to the board chair of the group that runs the camp. “It was closed in 2020, it’s closed this year. It may never open,” said Lora Little, the chair of the board of the Association of Research and Enlightenment, A.R.E., in an interview on the program Brian Ross Investigates on the Law&Crime Network. It was the Virginia-based group’s first extensive public reaction to the lawsuit filed last month on behalf of former campers who alleged sexual assault and rape by male counselors, and “a dangerous cycle of continued sexual abuse and cover-ups that has lasted generations.” ....
Eight women recently filed a lawsuit against a Virginia summer camp, claiming they were sexually abused by staff. The complaints raise questions about training and prevention across the industry as camps reopen for the summer. ....
Itâs advertised as a âspecial placeâ where children and adults of all ages can âexperience a different kind of vacation.â Perched in the mountains of Southwest Virginia at Rural Retreat, A.R.E. Camp is where campers have been flocking to for decades to hike, swim, meditate, eat meals made from the organic vegetable garden, and sing around a campfire. Itâs also where at least eight women say they were sexually assaulted and harassed when they were teenager campers, according to two lawsuits filed Wednesday in Virginia Beach Circuit Court. The men who abused them were adult counselors and other staff members who ranged in age from their late teens to 40s, said Ed Vasquez, a spokesman for the law firm representing the women. ....
Eight women allege sexual abuse at Virginia summer camp DENISE LAVOIE, AP Legal Affairs Writer April 28, 2021 FacebookTwitterEmail RICHMOND, Va. (AP) The Association for Research and Enlightenment describes itself as a 90-year-old organization for people to explore meditation, holistic health and the meaning of life. But eight women who filed lawsuits against the organization Wednesday allege they were sexually harassed, abused or raped as children while attending its rural Virginia summer camp. In the lawsuits, filed in state court in Virginia Beach, where the organization is headquartered, the women describe what they said was a decadeslong camp culture that let adult male staffers sexually abuse young female campers with impunity. ....
Share The Association for Research and Enlightenment, a nonprofit organization founded in 1931, describes itself as an organization for people to explore meditation, holistic health and the meaning of life. In the lawsuits, filed in state court in Virginia Beach, where the organization is headquartered, the women describe what they said was a decadeslong camp culture that let adult male staffers sexually abuse young female campers with impunity. During a virtual news conference, four of the women described the alleged abuse and a cult-like atmosphere at the camp, where they said they were taught unconditional love and forgiveness, even toward their abusers. ....