Golden Hope Ministries

In honor of National Grief Awareness Day...

We are designed for community- even in heartbreak. Especially our children. Kids need other kids and that is what makes our groups so unique! They give children and teens the opportunity to be with others their age who understand grief at their level and the challenges and difficulties they face of having to walk a road of grief at young age. Receiving support from each other knowing they do not have to walk alone.
We would love to see every grieving child in our community find that support and friendships that allow them to say "What! You too? I thought I was the only one!"💛

Groups meet 2nd & 4th Thursday starting September 12!

For more information- [email protected] / 219-667-0233 / www.goldenhopemin.org

Group nights start 2 weeks from today!! We are excited to be back together again and looking forward to seeing all our wonderful families💛

If your child or family has experienced the death of someone important to you, we would love for you to join our Golden Hope family. A safe-haven for peer to peer grief support for children ages 5-18 and adults who are walking through grief and loss.

It's not too late to register!

[email protected]
www.goldenhopemin.org
219-667-0233

Children and teens spend the majority of their time at school, and they take their grief with them when they go. For some, returning to school is comforting. They find support in the structure, familiarity, connections with friends, and the opportunity to focus on something other than grief. For others, it can be a challenging venture that brings additional stress, uncertainty, and worry.
View and download our full tipsheet athttps://www.dougy.org/assets/uploads/Back-to-School-with-Grief_2024-08-26-205015_vhbh.pdf

Did you know that at Golden Hope we have an amazing hospitality team that helps provide and start our evenings with a shared dinner for all our participating families and facilitators? 🍽
Often in grief, family meals are one of the first things to fall to the wayside whether it be because it's a constant reminder someone is missing, too emotionally and physically draining to prepare a meal, lack of appetite, the list goes on. Providing dinner for our participants allows for the very important time of families gathering together.

This is a great opportunity for businesses, small groups, service projects, etc! It can be as small as providing dessert for one of our meals or as big as providing the entire meal! We would love for you to join us on our group night and help serve the meal you donated!

Don't enjoy cooking or schedules are tight? No problem- you can still serve in this way! Sponsor a dinner and our hospitality team will take care of the rest!

All of Golden Hopes services are offered free of charge to the community including dinner! We can only do this because of the generosity of others like you!💛

For more information contact Ashley at [email protected] or send us a message!

****Registration for our upcoming program year is now open!!💛 Groups begin September 12!****

Has your child or family experienced a death related loss and are walking through grief? Grief can be so isolating and challenging to navigate especially when it effects each individual differently. At Golden Hope we strive to provide a safe and confidential environment that allows each individual to process and work through their grief at an age-appropriate level and through peer-to-peer support. We believe that no child, teen or family should have to walk through their grief alone.

+ Age-appropriate groups are offered for children ages 5- 18 along with adult groups for those who have experienced grief and loss through the death of someone important in their life.

+ Schedule: Meetings take place on the 2nd & 4th Thursdays of each month September-April

+ Dinner & Groups: A meal is provided each meeting night from 6:00-6:30pm followed by groups from 6:30 - 7:30pm

+ Cost: FREE! As a nonprofit organization we believe that all our grief support services be offered free of charge to participating individuals. Grief and loss include many obstacles that families have to face, but expenses to receive the support they need should not be one of them.

📧For more information or to register- contact Ashley at [email protected] or 219-667-0233

Program nights start up in just a few weeks on September 12!

A few more sneak peaks of information about this wonderful evening in November to honor and support grieving children and families in our community!

The 2nd Annual Legacy of Hope dinner will be once again held at The Grand- located in the Old Lake County Courthouse in Crown Point. A delicious dinner will be served by executive chef, Chris Pappas, owner of many local restaurants.

Followed by guest speaker Gwen Kapcia. LBSW, CT- A gifted speaker, presenter and professional grief counselor with over 30 years of experience in helping families who are grieving. We are grateful for her wisdom and experience as she understands and advocates for the ever-growing need of grief support for children and families.

We look forward to the Silent Auction as there will be many fun baskets and items to bid on! Followed by the famous Christie's Boucakes for dessert!!

It's going to be a wonderful evening and we hope that you can join us!!✨

If you are interested in sponsorship and donation opportunities, please visit the link below for more information!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1nFQ6pu8mFPMOxXb-6VzKu5Oi8AjEoaq6/view?usp=sharing

Training is just a little over a week away and we could use a few more facilitators for our upcoming year! Please reach out today for more information about this rewarding volunteer opportunity to support grieving children and families in our community!

A gentle reminder for all students and faculty returning to school this week💛

Are you and educator, school counselor, board member, school administrator?
Does your school have a plan in place for when a student experiences loss and grief?

As many children and teens are heading back to school, we wanted to share this awesome resource the NACG offers- an Individual Bereavement Support Plan outline to be used as a resource for school personal who are supporting students returning to school after they have experienced the death of a significant person in their lives.

Check it out here! https://nacg.org/isbsp/

We have exciting news to share! Golden Hope will be moving our meeting location to Crown Point Christian Reformed Church starting this September. We have outgrown our current meeting space and look forward to being able to serve more grieving children and families in our community. We will forever be grateful for Faith Church- Cedar Lake for their ongoing support and the space they graciously donated for our meetings the past two years!!

Our new meeting location:
909 E Greenwood Ave. Crown Point, IN 46307

Stay tuned for program night registration opening soon!

✨Save the Date- Thursday, November 7✨

Three months from today we will be hosting our second annual Legacy of Hope Dinner!! A night to remember, honor and support grieving children and families in our community and the work that Golden Hope is doing. We believe that all children, teens and families should have access to the support they need after experiencing the death of someone important to them. There are no fees for children or families to participate in any of our programs or events. We are able to continue to serve the community in this way through your generous support!! Please stay tuned next week for more information on sponsorships and donation opportunities!

This picture was taken at Golden Hope's Camp Healing Hearts just a little over a week ago. What a beautiful image that represents the heart of why Golden Hope exists. A safe haven for peer-to-peer support for children and families walking through grief. A place for children to receive support from other kids their age who understand what it is like to lose someone significant in their life. A place where there are others who are farther along in their grief journey to give encouragement and hope that it "won't always feel this way". A place to uplift and support one another when the grief is overwhelming. A place to know you are not alone💛

If your family is walking through grief and loss, we invite you to our meeting nights starting up again in September. Reach out to Ashley at [email protected] for more information.

We are gearing up for another program year starting in a little over a month and we NEED volunteers!!! 💛
If you have a compassionate heart for walking alongside and supporting grieving children and families, we would love for you to join our team! No experience necessary! Facilitator training will be taking place on Friday, August 23 & Saturday, August 24.

If the role of the facilitator is not for you but you want to get involved, there are plenty of other opportunities to volunteer! We would love to hear from you!

For more information, please contact Ashley at [email protected]

Jordy had the pleasure of working with Golden Hope Ministries on Saturday providing a music therapy group for their Grief Camp! Check out this amazing organization that supports our NWI community.

Just a few glimpses of what an awesome day we had on Saturday at Golden Hope's Camp Healing Hearts- our first ever grief camp!! More pictures and acknowledgements to come but new friends were made, grief was shared, and hearts and minds were uplifted and supported all while having a lot of fun together. What an amazing day it was!💛

Are you ready campers?!? It's going to be a great day!

Check-In/Drop-off: 8:00-8:30
Pick up: 4:00pm

Camp Triangle Hills
3838 W 141st Ave.
Crown Point, IN 46307

See you soon!!!💛

We are looking for a few more facilitators to join our team for this upcoming program year! No experienced needed, training provided!

Contact [email protected] for more information!

A huge heartfelt thank you to all who have purchased off our amazon wish list for camp!! We are blown away by your generosity💛 We only have 9 items left on our list!! Can you help us get those last few items donated? This helps us tremendously as all camp is offered at no cost to participating children and families!

💛Today is the final day to register for Camp Healing Hearts!💛

Register now for a day filled with meaningful opportunities and adventures for children and families to connect with others living with grief:

www.goldenhopemin.org/camphealinghearts

Did you know?
At the end of our camp day, each camper will go home with a Hope Bag filled with age-appropriate grief support items such as books, journals, coping skill activities as well as items to help honor and remember their special person.
We look forward to seeing all our campers and their families in just two short weeks!!

If you haven't registered yet, don't delay! Registration closes July 15!

Have you been reading about Camp Healing Hearts and wondering how you could help? We have created an Amazon Wish List of things that we need to help make this wonderful event successful!💛

It is because of generous donors like you that allow us to continue to offer grief support services to children and families in our community at NO COST to them. We are grateful for you- THANK YOU!!

https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/K88RALT7JFWJ?ref_=wl_share&fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAAR1R2uIUfv3EWXUN9QvJzo-h3jQ-hveXWYz-iDEswikNIHsECeMTe67gIhU_aem_r_Sj6cFIUdYbC8V5PL1Jng

We are so excited about Camp Healing Hearts. Scan this QR Code for more information and to register. Registration is open until July 15th.