Though Devin laced the strings together like a master, he just learned the craft at camp.
9-year-old Devin spent Wednesday morning in the "Art Barn" making a special kind of bracelet.
Thursday was the last day of a special summer camp in Kingston.
All of the campers at Kamp 4 Kids share a common thread, but it's a thread that camp leaders hope the kids won't weave into their futures.
9-year-old Devin spent Wednesday morning in the "Art Barn" making a special kind of bracelet.
"It's a spiral friendship bracelet," he said.
Though Devin laced the strings together like a master, he just learned the craft at camp.
"I didn't even know there was such a thing as this kind of friendship bracelet," Devin explained.
While Devin threaded his seventh friendship bracelet ever, 12-year-old Tyler Rose picked vegetables for dinner in the camp's garden.
"Here's a pretty big tomato but it's not really ripe," she said.
Both Tyler Rose and Devin had to fill out a special form to come to Kamp 4 Kids.
"I got selected to go here," Devin said.
However, the selection process doesn't look at grades or awards.
"Each of the children here have a parent who is currently in prison," said Kamp 4 Kids Session Director MacKenzie Hardt. "We give them a place to come and have a good time with other kids in the same predicament as them."
Kamp for Kids gives children of incarcerated parents perhaps their only summer vacation, beside other kids who have similar stories to tell.
"Time for them to relax and just be themselves without worrying what people think about them, or what they're expected to do," Hardt explained. "They have no expectations here. They can just be themselves."
The camp is designed to send kids home with new expectations.
"That what they deserve is a great life and a great childhood," Hardt said.
The kids learn to love not only themselves, but each other.
As Devin weaves the final pieces of his latest multi-color creation together, the five friendship bracelets he's already made are visible on his right wrist, but there's one missing.
"I gave it away once [to] my friend Bruce," Devin said. "He's nice to me."
Though they came to camp because of one common bond, they leave with another.
Kamp 4 Kids is fully funded by donations. It costs $325 to send one camper for a week. To help, send donations to:
Jim Muir Kamp 4 Kids
c/o Episcopal Diocese of East Tennessee
814 Episcopal School Way
Knoxville, TN 37932