Words from JoAnn Bacon, Mother to Charlotte, Co-founder of our organization.
After Charlotte died, we were underwater with grief. We would fight to the surface and gulp air, only to be dragged under again. It was a cycle that would repeat over and over. There were times we were not sure how long it could continue. Would we make it? Well, the grief continues, but we are not underwater or washed ashore; instead, we support others who find themselves in murky water.
When we rebranded the Charlotte Helen Bacon Foundation in 2017, we were committed to providing support to grieving parents. This new initiative re-invigorated Joel, me, and the CHB organization. Grief and bereavement support are undervalued and often overlooked for feel-good causes. We get it, grief is painful to watch, and it would be easy to look away. We thank you for not looking away.
We are dedicated to supporting bereaved parents through our own initiatives & partnerships with other grief support organizations, including:
Ohana Oasis
Sponsoring and co-facilitating grief retreats for bereaved parents with Ohana Oasis.
Financial Assistance
Providing financial assistance for grief counseling to parents of children who died by homicide.
Miss Foundation
Funding grief research in collaboration with the Miss Foundation to educate and advance best practices for a mass violence response and support for those grieving.
Grief Summer Camps
Underwriting the cost of a grief summer camp for children.
Charlotte with her father, Joel.
The heart of this foundation has always been Charlotte.
Our family faced the unfathomable violence against Charlotte by sharing her love and our love for her. Sharing this love helped us to tread water instead of sinking into the depths. Now ten years on, this foundation and with our community of supporters, we are equipped to throw buoys to others. We bow to all of you for thinking kindly and acting boldly.
May these Acts of Love and Charlotte’s stardust continue to impact your lives and those who the Charlotte Helen Bacon Foundation supports.
“Our personalities, experiences and relationships with the dead guide how we grieve, but the most fundamental need is the same. To hear the name of our beloved on the lips of others. Remembrance allows those left behind to keep their loved ones in the present rather than relegate them to the past.”
– from JoAnn’s speech at the Sandy Hook Permanent Memorial Dedication, November 2022