New Braunfels Downtown Rotary Gives Hope Hospice $10,000

New Braunfels, TX, November 05, 2008 --(PR.com)-- Hope Hospice’s Bereavement Program was established nearly twenty-five years ago to provide assessment, counseling, support and referral services for families after a Hope Hospice patient’s death. But Hope Hospice does not limit these services to families of patients. From the time this program began, there were so many requests from the community for grief support that in 2004, Hope Hospice formalized the Community Bereavement Program and began addressing the grief issues of our community. The following year, a program and counselor specializing in children’s grief were added. These services are available to anyone in a fifty mile radius of New Braunfels.

The New Braunfels Downtown Rotary is helping to protect the future of our community by investing in expert grief support for our area’s kids and teens. “We’ve supported Hope Hospice in the past,” said Rick Heyden, President of the Downtown Rotary. “It’s one of the best things we do and we’re pleased to help again.”

Hope Hospice’s Children’s Grief Program is organized by Kerry Dowler, LPC, MT-BC and its parent program, Hope Hospice Community Grief, is directed by Jane Marie Young, MA. Dowler and Young, along with the aid of other Hope Hospice staff members and volunteers, have grown the program to include individual counseling, family-oriented support groups, two weekend grief retreats, and more. “The Downtown Rotary is helping give hundreds of kids a safe space to express their grief with others who understand those feelings,” says Dowler of the club’s generosity. The Hope Hospice Children’s Grief Program also works closely with other agencies such as Connections, Communities In Schools and area school districts.

Hope Hospice has been providing excellence in care, comfort and education to all in our community affected by life-limiting illness, grief or loss since 1984.

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