Hey there! My name is Cindy Maldonado-Schaefer, and I am the Director of Operations at Erin’s House for Grieving Children. I work hand-in-hand with Debbie Meyer, our Executive Director.
Last week, Debbie introduced you to Erin’s House and the impact that COVID-19 has made on our organization. My hope this week is to give you deeper insight on what it means to be a grieving child during this pandemic and how Erin’s House has continued to give much-needed support to our families.
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Maldonado-Schaefer
Erin’s House is a unique place that provides a safe physical space where kids can come together and not feel isolated or alone. When the pandemic hit, we were left with a major question. How can we accomplish our mission and give that sprinkle of Erin’s House magic to our families if we can't provide a physical location?
What we've discovered is that the answer is simple. Erin's House is not about the building, the special rooms, or even the activities that we work so hard to get just right. It is about the people. It is about the families and the volunteers who bring the magic to our nonprofit and make it what it is.
So, it was a simple decision for us to make the move to a virtual platform and incorporate stay-at-home activities that we mail to our families to do together.
Being a work-from-home mom of three young boys during COVID-19 myself, I know that hunkering down has had its perks and its disadvantages. As a parent, this time for me has really been about seizing the opportunity to help my children grow and develop their independence and emotional skills. I like to rotate between hands-on activities and virtual experiences that we can do together. I know many families enjoy having that variety, too.
Erin’s House took this into account when we decided to not only provide virtual services for our families, but also to send them actual activities. With more than 250 families enrolled in our peer-support program, our team has been keeping busy packaging activities and addressing envelopes in between hosting virtual groups.
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A YouTube-based Healing Heart Activity invites Erin's House members on a Feelings Nature Hunt.
In Indiana, 1 in 12 children will experience the death of a parent or sibling before the age of 18. This staggering statistic ranks Indiana 12th in the nation for childhood bereavement.
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Younger children grieve the loss of loved ones in different ways than teens and adults.
When children experience a death, their age plays a critical role in how they understand and process the death. The younger the child, the harder it is for them to understand that death is permanent. Kids need concrete ways to process the finality of death, and they need us, as their parents, guardians, and mentors, to help guide them along this journey.
As children get older, the feelings of isolation and being different from their peers really set in. Especially during COVID-19, kids in our communities throughout the nation and the world are experiencing an intensified sense of isolation.
Even as states begin to reopen, our anxieties can get the best of us. For children and teens, grief is hard enough on its own; wondering who could be next and what might happen to them if someone else dies adds more complicated layers of confusion and fear to the equation.
Families might not be ready to venture out. Children, while socially ready, may not mentally be ready to get back out there yet. For these reasons, Erin’s House plans to continue our virtual groups well into the summer—even after we may begin operating some on-site programming.
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Teens enjoy a group session at Erin's House before COVID-19.
Despite the added efforts of simultaneously running on-site programs and virtual groups, we want to provide multiple options to our families so that all are included. The priority of Erin’s House is to ensure everyone feels as comfortable and safe as they can—even if that means participating in a peer-support grief group from your couch while wearing pajamas!
While I would not call us experts in the virtual world, we’re fortunate to have the best families who are patient with us. They are walking alongside us on our virtual journey, just as we are walking alongside them on their grief journey. The virtual platform in no way, shape, or form replaces our in-person meetings; however, it is a great way to still serve our families so they can continue their individual, as well as, their family grief journey together.
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Volunteers with Erin's House offer a free virtual dance activity to lift spirits during quarantine.
Erin’s House represents hope. This is the very hope that carries us as we brainstorm, develop, and someday soon implement our plan to resume our on-site peer-support groups. Safety and health are our top priorities. We are sensitive to all the populations we serve and the availability of our amazing volunteers—whom without, no reopening plan could ever be successfully executed.
As a staff, we have been viewing the challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic as an opportunity to evaluate and to grow. We are constantly coming up with new, innovative ideas that we are not afraid to try.
Our philosophy is: If it will help even one grieving child in our community, then no effort is too great.
We truly are in this together.
Learn more
Erin's House offers tips and resources for supporting children, teens, and families who are grieving during COVID-19. You can
download a tip sheet here, or
visit their website for more information.
You can also watch one of Erin's House's Healing Heart activity videos
here, as well as a fun
dance tutorial put together by their volunteers.
This blog is part of an ongoing, weekly series in Input Fort Wayne, following local small business owners and nonprofit leaders as they navigate the COVID-19 pandemic. Read the previous Erin's House's blog here.
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