Blue November
Be an Advocate. | Be a Friend. | Be a Supporter.
As many of you already know, November 19th is National Children’s Grief Awareness Day. At Kate’s Club, we decided just one day of awareness wasn’t enough, so we created the month-long advocacy campaign called Blue November. Throughout the entire month of November, we aim to create awareness by hosting a number of events, including our 4th Annual Memory Walk & Resource Fair and other fundraising events with our community friends and supporters.
In the spirit of going blue, we thought we’d share some ways in which you can create awareness of children’s grief, too.
1. Join us at our 4th Annual Memory Walk & Resource Fair: On November 15th, we invite Kate’s Club members and the entire community to join us in Piedmont Park for this annual awareness event. There will be many family friendly activities to promote awareness of children’s grief. This will be a large gathering of people joined together for one single purpose. Walk in honor of a loved one who has died, walk to be an advocate, walk to be a friend, create a fundraising team, or donate to help us empower the 1 in 20 children who will experience the death of a parent or sibling before the age of 18.
Register here
Registration/fundraising instructions
Event flyer – feel free to share this with your friends. Let’s overflow Piedmont Park with advocates, friends, and supporters, so that we can face grief together!
2. Educate yourself: There is so much literature online that’s readily available to educate you about children’s grief. Children grieve in many ways that are different than adults. In order to help grieving children, it is important to first understand how they grieve. The more you know about children’s grief, the more you’ll know how to help your friends who may experience the death of a parent or a sibling. Sometimes it is hard to find the right words to say to someone who has experienced such a loss, but we suggest to just be authentic and sincere – and be to just be there.
We have many resources for children’s grief education in the resources section of our website, but you may also find it helpful to visit www.childrensgriefawarenessday.org
3. Raise awareness through social media: Become an advocate for children’s grief awareness in the quickest way possible: through the internet. Share your experiences with children’s grief through Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Follow our social media accounts (Facebook: @KatesClubInc, Instagram: @KatesClub, Twitter: @KatesClub) for posts about children’s grief, and tag us in yours!
We are also using the hashtags #BlueNovember and #FaceGriefTogether on our posts throughout Blue November, and you can too! This is an awesome way to create awareness of children’s grief on a large scale.
4. Coordinate a “blue-out” at your school, workplace, or recreational organization: You can literally “go blue” by asking your classmates, coworkers, or peers to all wear a blue item of clothing on November 19th. This is a great way to show your support for National Children’s Grief Awareness Day. It also is a way to create an open discussion about children’s grief.
5. Use your time or resources to support a children’s bereavement organization, like Kate’s Club: Consider becoming a friend to grieving children through volunteering at your local children’s bereavement organization. Many organizations of this kind, though there are few, are nonprofits, so they rely on the support of their volunteers for day-to-day activities, mission-based programs, and special events.
If you would like to become a volunteer, or “Buddy”, at Kate’s Club, contact Debra Brook, or visit the volunteer section of our website.
If able, you may also consider making a 100% tax deductible donation*. Kate’s Club relies on the generosity of our donors, and they enable us to carry out our mission on a daily basis. If this sounds like something you are interested in doing, contact Rachel Ezzo, or visit the donation section of our website – there are many ways in which to give, and they all help empower grieving children.
*Kate’s Club is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, and all donations are tax deductible to the extent allowable by law.