S p r i n g N e w s l e t t e r 2 0 1 0

from theHeart

photos by Jane Berger Photography

On Friday, February 5, 2010, 450 people gathered at the Holiday Inn by the Bay for the 13th Annual Auction and Gala. The event raised more than $155,000 to help support the more than 4,000 people The Center serves each year. The Auction and Dinner Gala was chaired by Center Board member, Sharon Sesling-Labonte and Community Volunteer Destiny Cook and was sponsored by Lead Sponsor Re/Max by the Bay (for the 10th year in a Row) and Major Sponsors Spectrum Medical Group (for the 5th Year in a Row) & Harvard Pilgrim Health Care.

Cindy Williams of WCSH Channel 6 served as emcee. The Center would like to thank Cindy for the wonderful job she always does at our auction…. every year she sets the tone and pace for the evening by capturing the audience’s attention and getting them fired up about funding the mission of The Center.

Two highlights of the evening program were the presentation of the Bill Hemmen’s Award and The Presidents Award. The Awards were established in 2008 to honor the twentieth anniversary of our founding and are given in recognition of outstanding service to The Center by those providing support for children, teens and families seeking hope in the face of illness, death and loss. The 2010 recipient of the Bill Hemmen’s award was Gail Cinelli, The Center’s first ever Executive Director and The 2010 recipient of the President’s Award was Linda Kelly, who recently retired as Program Director, in recognition of her more than 20 years of service to The Center.

The auctioneer for the evening was Bill Zafirson. Special guests during the LIVE auction included Survivor Bob, Brant Dadaleares, Jared Payton, Erin Ovalle, Sarah Long, Shannon Moss, Miss Teen Maine and Dave Eid. Some of the most popular items included a Thos. Moser Rocker, NCAA Sweet Sixteen/Elite Eight Tickets, hard to get Tickets to the Boston Red Sox vs. Yankees, and a lobster and clambake featuring Bob Crowley.

Thank you to everyone who helped to make this event a success. Please mark your calendars for the 14th Annual Auction to be held on February 4th, 2011.

13th Annual Auction & Dinner Gala

Spring Training Institute

Join The Center for Grieving Children and ChIME for 2 workshops featuring author

Miriam Greenspan.

Workshops will take place on: Friday, April 30th, 7-9pm - Healing Through the Dark Emotions and Saturday, May 1st, 9:30am-4:00pm - The Light Inside the Dark. Certificates of Attendance will be given to all attendees.

For full descriptions and to register please visit our website www.cgcmaine.org or call (207) 775-5216.

Join The Center for Grieving Children and local author Melinda Ferreira for an event featuring Melinda’s book Rays of Grace.

In Rays of Grace, Melinda tells the story of her Mum’s life and journey with breast cancer. In this workshop we will also give an overview of the services that The Center offers to help families facing a serious illness.

This workshop will take place on Monday, May 3rd from 5:15pm-6:30pm at the Maine Center for Cancer Medicine. For full descriptions or to register please visit our website: www.cgcmaine.org or call (207) 775-5216.

Anne Lynch with Bill Hemmen’s Award Winner Gail Cinelli

Anne Lynch with Presidents Award Winner Linda Kelly

In the first 8 months of our current fiscal year we have responded to as many calls as we did all of last year. If previous experience is a good indicator of future trends; this increase in calls will translate into a dramatic increase in the numbers of people seeking support in the immediate aftermath of the death of a child, sibling, parent, grandparent, colleague or friend.

In March we trained one of our largest contingent of volunteers as we geared up for the expected increase in people requiring support. Typically, each year we provide direct support for more than 300 families through our Center based programs: Three nights of Bereavement Peer Support, One night of our Tender Living Care program for families dealing with a serious illness and two afternoons of Multicultural Peer Support program for refugee and immigrant children and more than 4,000 people in the wider community. We are looking at new and innovative ways to support more people throughout Southern Maine, utilizing specially trained volunteers and finding ways to increase support for our work to ensure we can meet demand.

In February I was heartened to see so many friends turn out for our 13th Annual Auction and Gala. As I have mentioned in previous communications in the last two years The Center has seen a decline in support from Corporations and Foundations as they have struggled during the economic upheaval and we have only been able to meet demand for services by drawing upon our small reserves. Unlike many nationally funded organizations The Center does not have an endowment to draw upon and since we take no federal or state funding we are only able to support children, teens and families because of the kind hearts that sustain us.

Our stalwart friends are one of the many bright spots in our work – thank you.

Executive Director’s View Point

Our MissionTo provide loving support to grieving children, teens, families, and the community through peer support, outreach, and education. We honor and encourage the safe expression of

grief and loss. We provide a loving community to foster the discovery and development of each child’s own resiliency and well-being.

Bill Hemmens (1945-1998) Founder

2008-2009 Board of DirectorsPatrick Veroneau, President

Kim Anderson True, Past PresidentBurr Duryee, Vice-PresidentNancy Thompson, Secretary

Paul Letalien, TreasurerBethany BeausangMichael Gendreau

Charlie HascallQuincy Hentzel-Germann

Michael HiltzJoe Hyatt

Colleen McGroryMichael MoorePhillip MorinJared PaytonThomas Polko

Jim SalterSharon Beth Sesling-Labonte

David StearnsNancy ThompsonDavid WheatonScott Whytock

StaffAnne Lynch, Executive Director

Susan Giambalvo, Program Director

Paul Golding, Development Director

Patricia Ellen, Outreach Director

Heather Hodgkins, Administrative Assistant

Diane Kimball, Development Assistant

Valerie Jones, Program Coordinator

Linda Nerbak, Family Coordinator

Carol Sylvester, TLC Coordinator

Kristen Vaillancourt, Asst. Development Director

ConsultantsBeth Elicker, M.S.

Linda Kelly, International Training Institute Coordinator

Christine Linnehan, M.S., L.C.P.C.Connie Palys, L.C.P.C.

Marie Sheffield, L.C.P.C.Dr. Bruce St.Thomas, Ed.D., A.T.R.

Beth Van Gorden, L.C.S.W.

19th Annual Pet & People Walk

Anne Lynch

Mark your calendars for Saturday, June 12th as The Center will be hosting its 19th Annual Pet & People Walk at Payson Park in Portland with a walk around Back Cove. After the walk we will be having fun in Payson Park with music, food, contests, and activities for all ages!

Visit us online at www.cgcmaine.org to register for the Pet & People Walk or to sponsor a participant. Online you can register, send emails to potential sponsors, create your own Pet & People Walk web page and track your pledges. Now is the perfect time to start thinking about

starting a team to walk in the Pet Walk. Team prizes will be awarded to top teams!

There are great prizes for every pledge level you reach, including dog toys, t-shirts, gift certificates and a special raffle prize! And congratulations to our Pet & People Walk drawing contest winner…Tayler Baker!!!

If you have any questions, please contact Diane at diane@cgcmaine.org or 775-5216 or visit our website www.cgcmaine.org.

Run with The CenterThe Center is putting together a team for the Portland Sea Dogs Mother’s Day 5k (May 9th, 2010) and we will have a training/fundraising team for the Maine Half Marathon and Marathon (October 3rd, 2010). For more information please visit our website www.cgcmaine.org or call Kristen at (207) 775-5216.

Volunteer Spotlight:Love Really Counts

The Center is very thankful for the support that we have received from the community this year. In a year in which demand for our services has risen by 35% in the first quarter and support from companies and foundations has yet to recover to pre-economic downturn levels - support from our friends in the community is vital to keeping our promise to support grieving children and their families. Community groups, organizations and businesses have gone above and beyond to raise money for The Center, help our families, volunteer and more. Thank you to everyone for continuing to be a crucial part of The Center’s success.

A few highlights from the past few months include the 100 hour Markathon hosted by Mark Curdo and everyone at WCYY. DJ Mark Curdo threw out the rule book, abandoned the play list and invited Portland and the wider world to request absolutely anything and he would play it if they would make a donation to The Center for Grieving Children. For over 100 straight hours Mark stayed energetic and focused as the calls and requests poured in while he played a mix of music never heard before and probably never to be heard again. After 100 hours on the air, Mark had raised $25,000 for The Center. Thank you to Mark and the entire staff at WCYY for

making this possible.

Thank you to the participants of the 2009 Kids Who Care Kickathon who raised more than $6,000 for The Center at the The Riverview Foundation’s Annual Event and thanks to the Portland Harbor Hotel, Ice Bar Event which raised more than $5,000 for The Center on three very cold days in January. This is the second year that The Center has participated in this event.

We would also like to thank Debbie & Stephen Little from Horse and Rider Connection. This newly formed non-profit organization provided therapeutic riding lessons to every child at The Center thanks to Horse and Rider Connection and the generous donation at our 2009 Auction from Bob and Kathy Crispin. Based in Cumberland, Maine, Horse and Rider Connection’s mission is to partner rescued horses with children, teens, and adults who face difficulties due to mental, emotional, or physical challenges. For more information please visit their website - www.horseandriderconnection.com. In this coming year, Horse and Rider Connection will be continuing their commitment to The Center.

Finally, Hannah and Rachel Friedman, from Perform for a Cure, have organized a benefit show for The Center. In collaboration with Lyman Moore Middle School, they will be putting on the show Beauty and the Beast, Jr. with all proceeds benefiting The Center. The Friedman’s chose The Center as the beneficiary because they attended The Center when Hannah was undergoing treatment for cancer and they want to give back to The Center because it helped them during a difficult time.

We would also like to say Thank You to Pizza Hut for hosting a fundraiser for The Center and the Maine Emerald Society for holding a raffle for us. Also, thank you to Xander Nelson, Lee Larson, Conor McGrory and Chris Gilbert of the band Phantom Companion who recently held a performance where all proceeds came to The Center and thank you to Mahoney Middle School’s Reach Program which recently held a Mahoney Idol to benefit The Center. Thank you to these groups and to all of the other people in the community who continue to support The Center for two years we have only been able to meet demand by tapping our reserves - the support of our loving community really does make the difference!

In the Community

Calling all Current Volunteers!

Please join us on Friday, April 16th from 5pm-7pm at The Center as we honor our current volunteers during National Volun-teer Appreciation Week. Refreshments will be served. We hope you can join us for this Celebration. Please RSVP to Heather - heather@cgcmaine.org or (207) 775-5216 by Monday, April 12th.

Drew and Sharon (Reiser) Hill met while attending volunteer facilitator training at The Center in the spring of 2001. They started facilitating a children’s group together on Thursday nights as soon as they completed the training. In time, there was a need for two volunteers in the Volcano Room, (a space for the safe, physical expression of feelings) and the two of them started working together in that role. They also volunteered for several years as “buddies” at America’s Camp, a summer camp for children who lost a parent on 9-11. The Center provides staff and volunteers for America’s Camp.

The friendship Sharon and Drew formed eventually led to dating and they married in 2004. Sharon accepted a leadership role in 2004 and remained as co-Team Coordinator on the night until her maternity leave in 2008. Their son Andy was born May 27, 2008. Andy is excited about becoming a big brother in May 2010. Drew continues to volunteer on Thursday nights at The Center. Sharon hopes to return as a volunteer when the time is right.

According to Drew, “The Center is a place full of people who open their hearts to others. It has taught me how to listen and when to play. I am grateful to be a part of such a powerful place. I find comfort in the community The Center has created.”

Drew and Sharon own and run two local businesses, Haberdashery Hill and The Leather Exchange. We thank them both for a decade of service and commitment to children who have experienced profound loss.

You might be interested to watch a special edition of Sesame Street hosted by Katie Couric, designed to help families cope with the loss of a parent. Our center staff helped shape this program and center families will serve in post broadcast focus groups. The special is being broadcast on PBS on April 14, at 8 PM.

National Attention for Grieving Children:Sesame Street Special

Mark Curdo

Debbie Little

Non-ProfitPermit #467

US Postage PaidPortland, ME

555 Forest AveP.O. Box 1438

Portland, ME 04104(207) 775-5216

When children are experiencing loss and change it is sometimes difficult to get them to talk about what they are experiencing and feeling. At the same time it is important to help them “mark” their experiences.

A fun and non-threatening ritual that can work with people of all ages including adults is to create a paper chain of various colors.

Linked Together:Helping Children Talk about and mark their experiences

5. After each person shares they add their slip of paper to the chain.

6. Overtime the family has a long chain that can be displayed representing the various moods, days, and how things change.

7. You would be amazed how this may help children talk about things and how

eager they will be to hear from the adults in their life how they are doing as well

8. Hint: If you have reluctant teens – don’t force them – just let them add a color without talking – in time they may join in.For more activities please visit our website www.cgcmaine.org

What to do:

1. Set a time aside each day or week or weekend that works for your family --- dinner, before bed, during after-noon homework, Sun night,.

2. As a family talk about how various colors can represent different kinds of feelings or differ-ent kinds of days i.e. “I had a blue day because my dad can’t see me in my play. Or “I had a red day because I’m mad my math teacher gave us so much homework.”

3. Each family member – mom and/or dad included picks a color to represent their day or week or a feeling they are having.

4. Family members take turns writing about or telling why they picked that color.

Join our e-list....go to www.cgcmaine.org or call (207) 775-5216