Helping the Helpers
Not only does it take a village to raise a child, it also takes many professionals within the village who are trained to meet the special needs of grieving children.
When children are traumatized and bereaved, their grief is addressed by First Responders, and also by other professionals who will continue helping them, “Later Responders”.
All of these compassionate and competent helpers are themselves “Grace-based Grief Resources For Children”. As our Mission Statement says, GGRC is a “Community of Volunteers whose mission is to help the helpers of traumatized and bereaved children”.
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-First Responders
-Children’s Ministers
-Crisis Chaplains
-Hospice Caregivers
-Hospital Staff
-Foster Parents
-Funeral Directors
-House Parents at Group Homes
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-We provide the services of an Ordained Chaplain or Certified Grief Counselor for helpers who request individual support.
-We receive prayer concerns from helpers, and our Prayer Team is committed to praying for them.
-We conduct a monthly prayer service we call SOS.
-We offer an extensive Equipping The Saints Ministry including workshops, a website and newsletter, and an annual Secondary Trauma Retreat.
-We host Pop-Up Parties to honor the presence of First Responders in our neighborhoods.
-We help host Drop-Ins where we provide Community Education for your friends in your homes.
-We conduct an ongoing Stewardship Campaign to fund our ministry entirely on donations.
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GGRC provides Kids Comfort Kits to First Responders and other professional helpers, and they distribute them to children who are bereaved and traumatized by tragic events in their lives. Each kit contains a Build a Bear, a baby-blue fleece blanket, crayons, and a coloring book.
A pastor and the “Bear Brigade” Volunteers bless the kits and pray for the professional helpers and the children.
Each Build a Bear is tagged with a card indicating our prayers and inviting anyone to reach out to us at GGRC for additional services.
Mr. Rogers and his mother coined the expression: “The Helpers”
On the PBS television program, Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood, Fred Rogers was speaking to millions of young children when he quoted what his mother had said to him as a young child:
“My mother used to say, a long time ago, whenever there’s a catastrophe…always look for the helpers…rescue teams, medical personnel, anyone who is coming into a place where tragedy has occurred, because if you look for the helpers, you will know there is hope”
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