bummed out. need some input.
so i come here, cause you are my virtual village.
i heard today that a kid i treated last year was found dead of an overdose yesterday morning. she was 15.
then, i processed this with her four closest friends that are in treatment at this time.
that is why i am bummed out. it is not my first client to die, but it is the first one since i have been working with teenagers. i will work that out.
here is the input i need...
i would like to help the kids memorialize her in some meaningful way. i thought of planting a tree, but where? and then one of the kids suggested a memorial scholarship for treatment in her name, which i love, but have no idea of how to go about. that is a lot of dough, so i was hoping maybe one of you non-profit/legal eagle/public health mamas might know something about this?
or, just any ideas about helping them do something.
i also thought about a lulu project with poems and writings and whatnot, that maybe they could just buy for themselves, or sell towards their scholarship idea?
maybe a fund in her name for something specific. buying birthday cakes for clients or something.
fuck i don't know. i am at work now, and i never blog from work. i just can't concentrate on what i am supposed to be doing.
any brilliant ideas? i KNOW you all will have some...
“You have your way. I have my way. As for the right way, the correct way, and the only way, it does not exist.”
Friedrich Nietzsche
- punkmama's blog
- Login or register to post comments
Fundraising is always an option through selling things, etc. As an act of love for her, they can raise money directly to go toward reducing cost of treatment for others. This isn't sustainable in the long term, but it would at least be something.
If it's not too late, have the family add it to the obituary, or mention it at the memorial service, that they're raising money for this. If people want to give to the memorial scholarship fund in place of giving flowers, rock on. You can usually set up an account at a bank or credit union and direct people to deposit to that account.
There are websites that let you fundraise for existing causes. I know firstgiving.org is one (I think that's the right extention). They could make their own webpages and raise money on- and off-line to give to a suicide prevention organization or something.
Talk to area businesses about donating to the scholarship fund. In a perfect world, you'd be able to raise a million dollars and create an endowed fund that just used the interest for scholarships, but that might be too pie-in-the-sky.
It's best to set up some kind of goal or range that you're going for, figure out what you'll be able to make the most of that money, and then start raising money. When people know it's going to give journals to everyone who leaves treatment at X facility for the next year, they're more apt to give then if it's for something less tangible.
24/MN. Queer, veg, single, AP mama to DD1.5
25/MN and WA. Queer, veg, single, AP mama to DD2.5.
I bet your development office would love to be involved with this. They probably have an honor/memorial program. Yes, it's important and theraputic for the friends to be involved and in charge, but the development office might know of ways to make that money go farther or ways to maximize their time. Just a thought.
24/MN. Queer, veg, single, AP mama to DD1.5
PM i am so sorry. she is the first and that will stick for 2009.
maybe you could immortalize the kids' words in a poetry booklet?
yes, that is the lulu thing i wrote about...it is a cool self-publishing site, you know the one that one of the mamas used to do the madri belle breastfeeding book? i thought maybe they could write how they feel, maybe put the word out to people that knew her in general, at school, etc, and not just the few that knew her that are in treatment with us, and then whoever wants to buy a copy, can.
have you had this happen at work?
xoxox, c
At work, you think of the children you have left at home. At home, you think of the work you've left unfinished. Such a struggle is unleashed within yourself. Your heart is rent.
- Golda Meir
Hey there Punky-
I like the tree idea. It's a lasting, real thing that they could go visit if they needed to.
Fundraising is good of course, but how will they feel if they don't raise much? I can tell you it's not easy to make $ on Lulu. I didn't set up the price of that breastfeeding book to make a profit, but not a cent ever came to me. You have to sell a minimum amount or they just keep any profit you make.
Have each person whose life was touched by the loss of this young woman create a block, then sew them all together. There are many ways to do this and creating can be so therapeutic. I am envisioning a quilters circle where you can all share and laugh and cry.
I also love the idea of of a memorial bench, somewhere she would have loved to be.
I know you'll find the perfect way to memorialise her and the fact that you care so much says a lot about you as a professional. Big hugs.
http://fyvendyme.wordpress.com
I don't have any advice here, but my sympathies for your loss. I'm so sorry.
"Do not forget. Remember and warn."
-- Plaque fixed to the hollow shell of Sarajevo's National Library
"Do not forget. Remember and warn."
-- Plaque fixed to the hollow shell of Sarajevo's National Library
but so sorry to hear...
Mummy's alright, Daddy's alright, they just seem a little weird...
Mummy's alright, Daddy's alright, they just seem a little weird...
Navigation
Who's online
Online users
- MLH
Who's New
- BeachBunny
- gayle.mallinger
- Mamapocket
- mjcwriter
- addie smith
wow, that is a lot of info! we have a whole development department, of course, since i work for a hugenormous national non-profit...but i don't really interact with them that much, and i wanted something that the kids could do themselves...that idea about the website, that is reachable for the kids to do on their own...they could designate our agency maybe as the organization. i am off to look that up! thanks again! good input.
At work, you think of the children you have left at home. At home, you think of the work you've left unfinished. Such a struggle is unleashed within yourself. Your heart is rent.
- Golda Meir