Four Local NJ Organizations You Should Know About After Losing A Child

We perhaps know more than others that losing a young child can bring upon questions no parent should ever have to answer. We had never planned a funeral service before, when we lost our son, we began to ask; do we bury or do we cremate, and how much does each option cost? What do you mean you don’t have child or infant sized caskets and urns at the funeral home? We wanted some small keepsakes to keep in our home to remember our son, where do we buy such an item? These are some of the questions we hope Walk In Sunshine can answer for a family in need.

Today, we wanted to share four local organizations who are doing amazing work in the areas of loss and grief. There are so many good works out there, but we wanted to highlight these four for our first article. 

 

As a new model for coping with loss, Imagine is a center for dealing with loss that focuses on peer support for young children, adolescents, and families. Their programs include information on dealing with death, coping with illness, and grief education. Also, they have Spanish-speaking support groups for families in need and have some amazing facilities in Mountainside NJ. It’s definitely worth a tour.

Formed in 2008 after the loss of their daughter in a tragic sailing accident, Dr. Michael Vitale formed Alexandra’s Playground to “support opportunities for safe, active play throughout childhood.” Even further, Alexandra’s Playground helps build playgrounds in the tri-state area while providing education and awareness around children’s health and sports safety. They recently just finished building a playground in Paterson NJ which is open to all kids to safely play. They are always looking for volunteers to help build playgrounds.

2 Degrees Foundation is an excellent local New Jersey organization whose vision is to “provide every family in New Jersey a fighting chance against stillbirth.” Apart from raising money for stillbirth research and raising awareness, they provide a great list of local support groups. This is a great resource to learn so much about stillbirth both in NJ and nationally.

Based in Montclair, NJ, Pockets of Light is an organization providing support and community to grieving parents and a safe environment in which we can share our stories and begin the healing process. They mainly offer support groups for families, but they also have an extensive list of resources for those in need and host many local community events.