Volunteer with Kids Haven: A Center For Grieving Children
Written by Lucy White, E.C. Glass Summer 2024 intern
Earl Grollman once said, “Grief is not a disorder, a disease, or a sign of weakness. It is an emotional, physical and spiritual necessity, the price you pay for love. The only cure to grief is to grieve.”
At Kids' Haven: A Center for Grieving Children, their amazing team works to support children through those difficult and complex emotions. They serve children ages three to eighteen and their families through various grief support programs they have made available and free of charge to the public.
One of these includes their Family Group Night Program. This program is designed to accommodate children, teens, and their families dealing with the loss of a significant person in their lives. At Family Group Nights, a space is created for families to share a meal, free of charge, followed by participating in age-appropriate, peer support groups led by trained facilitators. Caregiver support groups are also offered on these evenings for adults who are supporting a child along their grief journey. Kids’ Haven was able to reach over thirty-five youth and their families this past academic year through their Family Group Night program.
Kids’ Haven also provides a Grief Support School Group Program for children in the Greater Lynchburg Area. School Groups provide a safe space for children and teens within their schools to come together as part of a supportive community of classmates and peers, all grieving as a result of a life-changing death loss. Kids’ Haven was able to serve over ninety students this past academic year through the thirteen schools in the Greater Lynchburg Areas they have partnered with.
Another child-specific resource Kids’ Haven provides is their three-day, completely free Grief Support Summer Camp for kids ages five through fourteen, supported by the Greater Lynchburg Community Foundation. This summer, the camp took place in the evenings at Camp Kum-Ba-Yah, providing campers with the tools to process grief in healthy ways, meet friends facing similar circumstances, build coping skills, and honor and memorialize their person who has died.
If you are looking to get involved with this organization's great work, there are plenty of ways to volunteer, such as becoming a Grief Support Group Facilitator or a Meal Maker for Family Grief Support Group Nights.
To learn more about Kids’ Haven: A Center for Grieving Children, check out their SHARE page. To see our interview with Kids Haven on The Mike Show, click here.