Senior Project: Making Memories

This semester, for my law class at Boston University, we were asked to find a cause that was meaningful to us, and to make a contribution to that cause in order to make a difference in our local Boston community. Many of you may know this, but some of you may not. My dad passed away from colon cancer when I was just 4 years old, and my brother was only 6. No one can really teach you how to cope with losing a parent at such a young age, but my mom did everything she could to keep our family strong through that difficult time. She found Peter's Place, a center that was set up to bring grieving families who had lost a parent together for group therapy and counseling. And while I don't have too many memories of that time, Peter's Place has always stuck with me. We would watch movies and do arts and crafts with other kids who were going through the same thing, and having my brother there and the amazing volunteers made such a difference in my life, because in those couple of hours we didn't feel so alone. When my professor first told us about our project, my mind immediately jumped to finding a similar place in Boston that I could give back to, because Peter's Place gave so much to me. I found Jeff's Place in Framingham, and went to meet with the directors of the program. I was immediately brought back to my memories of being at Peter's Place, and everything they are doing for these families is absolutely amazing, and so important for the kids. Although it was too short of a time for me to be able to volunteer directly with the groups, I thought I would raise money to help the families who are going through such a tough time. Jeff's place is closed during the summer, and I know it is so hard to find the enthusiasm to get out and make new memories after losing a member of the family. So, for each of the families at Jeff's place, I am going to give a little bag of new adventures. Going to the movies, the aquarium, a baseball game, the zoo, new restaurants, and so many more activities in Boston, with your help, will be the things these families can look forward to this summer. Whatever you can give will be greatly appreciated, as this means so much to me. I'll update with pictures as I gather everything together, and any ideas for fun activities I can include in the bags are more than welcome. Thanks for taking the time to read this, and thank you to those donating to such an important cause. 

More information about Jeff's Place Children's Bereavement Center, Inc.: Jeff's Place provides comprehensive bereavement services for both children aged 3-19 and their families. Our free grief support groups provide a safe place for people to heal and integrate their loss in a meaningful way. We also provide individual counseling, crisis intervention and educational trainings on childhood bereavement for local schools and organizations. We have now served over 550 individuals and we currently have 51 families in our groups with 56 caregivers and 86 children.