Our vision
Our vision is to create a welcoming community gathering space that provides programming and physical memorial artifacts to support families in the Greater Toronto Area who are navigating their own grief journey after perinatal or infant loss. This is Helen’s Place.
Our vision includes:
- Donating teddy bears to all labour and delivery units within the GTA, so that no parent has to leave the hospital with empty arms
- Donating scrapbooking and memory box materials to all labour and delivery units within the GTA, so that all nurses have the supplies on hand to build beautiful memorial packages for the parents and families of stillborn and deceased infants
- Providing physical memorial artifacts (like suncatchers, ornaments, and other items) to help parents find everyday reminders of their child’s presence
- Organizing regular memorial events so that bereaved parents and families can gather and hear the names of their angel babies spoken out loud in front of others
- Creating a physical space, like a close friend’s living room, where families can gather for counseling and other bereavement support programming, like peer support groups
- Building relationships with social workers and grief counselors in the GTA, offering the use of the physical space for the delivery of their own bereavement services
- Creating a large scale physical memorial installation so that bereaved parents and families can see their child’s name in writing, installed in a permanent fixture
- And so much more
Our dreams are big, but we’re starting modestly.
Phase 1 (where we are today)
As we find our footing as newly bereaved parents our primary goal is to give meaning to our daughter’s short life. We will use Helen’s Place to build awareness for perinatal and infant loss, raising money and making large sum donations–in Helen’s name–to two worthy organizations that have provided invaluable support to our family and many families like us:
Roger Neilson House
Roger Neilson House is a hospice for pediatric palliative care built on grounds of the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario (and part of the CHEO Foundation). Their service offerings include specialized bereavement counselling, support, and programming for perinatal and infant loss within the Ottawa area.
Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep
NILMDTS offers the gift of healing, hope and honor to parents experiencing the death of a baby through the overwhelming power of remembrance portraits. Professional-level photographers volunteer their time to conduct an intimate portrait session, capturing the only moments parents spend with their babies. Parents are gifted with delicately retouched heirloom black and white portraits free of charge.
Phase 2
In the next year we will continue to formalize our vision and build a detailed business plan for Helen’s Place. As we put pen to paper on these plans we will shift the focus of our fundraising to generate capital for building phase 3 of Helen’s Place.
Phase 3
Once we’ve raised the necessary capital, we will build and operationalize our full vision for Helen’s Place, including programming, memorial gifts, and physical space.
