Children's Grief Awareness: Shedding Light on Tragedy by Molli

Children's Grief Awareness: Shedding Light on Tragedy by Molli - April 2022 Scholarship Essay

In the summer of 2021, I sat across from the volunteer consultant at my current job: The Boys and Girls Club. I had received news that I would be a leader on my school's NHS Leadership Team and was excited for the ways I could benefit the non-profit I worked at from a volunteer perspective. I was given the green light to support in a voluntary aspect, and excitedly began planning projects that my school could participate in.
Fast forward to November: Children's Grief Awareness Month. I stood in front of my school, 700+ individuals, including faculty, and presented a plan to advocate and stand in support of families affected by loss.
A bit of background:
- Nationally, its estimated that 1/14 children lose a parent or sibling by age 18.
- In Wisconsin (my home state) that stat is 1/15.
- In the Fox Valley, many members of our community are a part of that statistic, and The Boys and Girls Club has a program that is created to empower these young individuals in a time of confusion and grief.
The plan I gave to my school was simple, but effective. On Friday, November 12, everyone was encouraged to wear blue in solidarity. After school, willing participants could come and create posters and cards that shed awareness to the issue, and supported the children affected.
That Friday, my entire school was swathed with blue. From freshmen to faculty, they had heard the cry, and they had answered. We even had students on school trips sending me pictures of their support with a hashtag: #bluesday. It was more than I could ask for, and it got even better.
After school, over 30 of my peers showed up, and got to work creating awareness cards and posters. I even had cards and posters coming in from grade schools affiliated with the high school. And one of the coolest things was this: a student who had experienced loss in their childhood, and who had participated in the BGC's program was willing to come, create, and share their experience with me.
The next week, I delivered our work to the Club, and was greeted with a bone crunching hug, and awed gratefulness. We delivered over 40 cards and posters and had a historic participation in the program's awareness platform. A large part of our participation can be seen here, in the program's YouTube video: https://youtu.be/NKq9DXJ3yGg (copy and paste the link).
This project showed me something that changed the way I viewed community impact, and volunteerism: people are capable the most amazing acts of kindness if you simply give them the opportunity. I hadn't expected the response from any of these individuals: if anything, I had only expected to see a small number of teens showing their support. But my school community surprised me in the greatest way. More than that, I was able to see how our actions impact the people they serve.
Showing support for someone struggling, especially a child, is empowering for that individual. It reminds them that there are people fighting for them, there are people showing love for them, and there are people willing to whatever it takes to stand beside them in a time of need. I had an opportunity to head an experience that directly served the people I worked with and seeing the reactions and impact that our support had on them was one of the greatest things that I have ever experienced.