Endings & Beginnings
– excerpt from our Clinical Director, Melissa Kennedy Panto’s virtual gala speech
In 2010, we opened our doors with just 6 grieving families.
For the first several years, we ran our only group at Temple Shir Tikva in Wayland. They were generous enough to open their hearts and open their doors for our grieving families to gather, free of charge.
In 2013, we were able to secure an office space at 34 Deloss Street in Framingham through the generosity of Fenix Partners, and with that we added additional groups. And since the only constant is change, in 2015, we made the decision to house ALL our groups at our office on Deloss Street. We continue to hold our annual holiday memorial and end-of-year celebrations at the temple and truly appreciate their generosity!
Remember in 2010, we started with just 6 families. Today, we directly support over 65 families in our program… and we’ve served countless grieving families in the past decade along with thousands in the community through our educational trainings, our crisis response, and other programming.
Up until two years, it was thought that 1 in 20 children before the age of 18 would experience the death of a parent or sibling… NOW, we know that it is 1 in 14 nationwide. Our program is more important than ever.
This past decade has shown us many things: at Jeff’s Place we build communities, we create connections, we instill rituals to remember, and we hold hope for our families…. And the good news is… We are not going anywhere…
Well, that’s not exactly true. We are GOING places…. We thrilled that after renting for the past several years, Jeff’s Place has secured a permanent residence at 281 Pleasant Street in Framingham. This space allows more opportunities for growth and more importantly to better serve our families and those currently waiting to be served. We can’t wait until we can host an Open House and welcome you!
A lot has changed in the last 10 years, but some things will remain the same… our commitment to our grieving families, our commitment to the community, and our commitment to ensure that no one grieves alone. Thank you for your commitment and your support.
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