In the future, this area will be dedicated to telling stories of the families who have been helped through organizations which FGC has funded, as a result of your kindness and generosity.  While we are working on this area, our Founder and President has posted her story…

It was a fairly overcast day in mid-July 1984 when the profession I now know, was dramatically set for my life at the young age of 27.  Having already endured the drunk driving deaths of two teenage friends while in high school, the inoperable cancer diagnoses and deaths of two additional college friends, and my grandfather’s death, I was now experiencing something I never thought I would face…the murder of a young child, my former husband’s 11 year-old daughter.  At that moment, I had no idea that my life’s work was now laid out for me.  I only knew we were less than three months from our wedding and this tragedy was beyond all comprehension.  Little did I know it would become an eighteen-year unsolved murder.

The past twenty-one years have been dedicated to serving bereaved families through group support leadership, authorship of books, directories and CDs, speaking at conferences and seminars, lobbying for better legislation as a crime victims’ rights advocate, attending numerous murder trials with families, promoting the need for assistance to the bereaved within the media, and training criminal justice and other professionals.  During this time, it had become increasingly obvious that funding to organizations which assisted our youngest population were severely limited.  And little had been done to make society more aware of the challenges facing them.  

For many years, quite frankly, I waited for all the ‘experts’ in this field to rise up and develop such an organization.  But it never happened.  So, knowing the need, and also the enormous challenge, I began the Foundation for Grieving Children, Inc.

The Foundation for Grieving Children was specifically developed as the first national non-profit public charity whose mission is to raise funds and provide grants to community-based non-profits which assist, educate, counsel and comfort grieving children, teens and young adults who have experienced a loved one’s death.

If you have experienced the death of a family member early in life, or know someone who has, you are keenly aware of the various struggles families can face.  Should they be unable to find support services when they need them and in the locations they need them, an additional challenge and frustration set in, only adding to the pain of grief. 

We see our job as raising extensive funds to help build new support services and expand and sustain existing ones.  The dedicated professionals who work in this field are special people.  I don’t know anyone who, when they were considering their life’s profession, said “You know, one day I’m going to work with grieving families.”  Instead, they feel a pull toward helping families in trauma.  I call it a gift.

I am fortunate to know many of these fine professionals.  We are working toward developing a strong network which will help us immediately connect when crises strike in a particular geographic area.  This will give us an edge in getting resources quickly to devastated areas, whether it be a school shooting, natural or man-made disaster or other traumatic event.

But we cannot do this without you.  You are the source - the place where it actually all starts.  Without you and your financial gift we cannot make all these dreams become reality.  We cannot build more Centers for Grieving Children, or start bereavement camps or support groups at schools and universities or develop training materials and seminars for professionals dealing with children, teens and young adults.  We need you to be our partner in this effort.

There is so much to do…please help up with your best financial donation.  Learn more about us.  Most of all, please become a monthly partner with us, giving a set amount each month which will be automatically deducted from your debit or credit card through Network for Good.   Remember…every dollar helps alleviate suffering. 

I often think of all the families out there who endure great sadness like I have.  But somehow we move forward, because we know we must, if we wish to achieve better mental health.  I wish you inner peace regardless of what you might be going through right now. 

For me, giving back brings me great joy…please help me help bereaved families.

Wishing you abundant blessings and thanking you for your kindness toward grieving children,

Mary M. McCambridge
Founder/President