HOPE FOR BEREAVED provides support and hope to thousands of grieving children, adults and families each year by offering one-to-one counseling, 10 support groups, telephone helpline, and HOPELine newsletter free-of-charge to the bereaved. Families, friends, businesses and healthcare professionals turn to HOPE for training, guidance and resources. HOPE’s services and resources are used locally, nationally and internationally.
HOPE is a 501-C(3) organization. Our financial support is derived entirely from individual contributions, sale of resources, newsletter subscriptions, grants, and special events. HOPE does not receive annual funding from any source. Last year, HOPE touched the lives of 10,000 people of all ages in our community and beyond.
Therese Schoeneck founded HOPE FOR BEREAVED, Inc. in 1978 after the death of her daughter, Mary, in a car accident. At the time, Central New York did not have a support group available for parents dealing with the death of a child. Determined that something positive would come from Mary’s death, she formed a bereaved parents’ support group. Eventually, her efforts blossomed into the creation of Hope for Bereaved, Inc.–a not-for-profit community organization that is dedicated to providing its support groups and services free-of-charge to grieving children, adults and families in our community. HOPE also offers grief workshops & bereavement support for; daycare providers, employers (on-site for dealing with grief in the workplace),staff at hospitals/skilled nursing facilities, and special workshops on “how to help individuals with developmental disabilities cope with grief.
ONGOING GOALS
Expand Outreach to Children & Teens
One of our major goals for 2012 is to expand HOPE’s outreach services and programs for grieving children & teens. To accomplish this we are seeking seed money to fund the establishment of a dedicated program for grieving children and teens. This is a critical need. It requires a youth coordinator/counselor who would reach out to all schools throughout central New York.
The second youth goal is to establish the Center of HOPE for Grieving Children & Teens. HOPE has rooms within the current HOPE Center that are designated as a complex for the youth. They would provide the youth & teen support group a much needed meeting space. This Youth Wing could hold up to 30 youths and would include a library/media corner and office space for the youth coordinator, as well as counseling space.
Butterflies of HOPE
Art Projects by Children & Teens
In 2009, we initiated the Butterfly Art Project at the annual Celebration of HOPE Dinner in November. Last year, two schools responded to HOPE’s invitation to create “Butterfly Art” which was on display at the OnCenter lobby. There were many lovely pictures (some hand in HOPE’s Youth Center), butterfly magnets, pins and note cards. Students’ artwork was done “in memory of a loved one who died”. The “Butterfly Art Project” has become part of our outreach to students and enable HOPE to raise awareness to the support groups, resources and services that HOPE provides to our community’s youth. The art project creates an opportunity for students to understand their grief and express their feelings. The purchase of artwork will help raise funds for the HOPE for Youth support groups.
This program is part of our expanded outreach to Schools which includes our newly designed Grief Resources Kit.
