Students Step Up 

We say that a Family’s reaction to loss is as individual as it’s members- every family copes with and manages grief differently. True enough, but almost all families can use a little extra help as they begin to adjust. Meet Laura Vecoli, a student who found out first hand how helpful she could be to a family and created a program for other students willing to lend a little time to give a lot of help.

(MFH) How were you inspired to create a program to help grieving families?  

(Laura) As a junior, I responded to a request to volunteer with Memorial Funeral Home. They were looking for a student to volunteer to work with a child after the sudden loss of his Father. I saw what a difference my presence made to the child and the Mom in just a few hours each week. As a senior nursing student, I needed to complete a Service Learning Project and thought there must be more students and families out there that could really benefit from this kind of match. My advisors approved the project because it was meeting a need in the community and together with Memorial Funeral Home, the Parent Helper Program was born! 

(MFH) What is the Parent Helper Program exactly?

(Laura) The PHP is designed to connect Salve students with local families to help support them through the grieving process. It’s very individualized, so it might mean playing with the children while the Mom takes a rest or gets some exercise, or it might mean taking a child out each week to do something special. Those details get worked out between the family and the student. The students commit to at least 1 hour/week for 10-12 weeks in which time the student can become a playmate/mentor/supportive adult to the children and give the parent a consistent time that they can get out on their own.

(MFH) Anxiety is one of the most common symptoms of grief. We see separation anxiety really rise with parents of young children following a loss. How do the student volunteers work with that?

(Laura) Parents are reassured to know that we recruit, orient and even train student student volunteers on the grief process, on individual family circumstances and provide ongoing support to students placed. We meet throughout the semester and connect with families as well. Families are able to learn about the student and receive references for them and students know from the Family Information Form, what a parent has in mind prior to the first meeting with them. Students are trained to meet the families where they are- if they are more comfortable staying at home and just reading in another part of the house or making calls- that’s fine. If they are comfortable running errands or meeting a friend- that’s good too. Often, as trust builds there is a progression from one to the next. 

(MFH) What are your hopes for the program?

(Laura) We’re excited because this is our pilot semester and we already have 4 trained volunteers and have 5 families. I hope that the program will be a long term partnership between Salve Regina University students and Memorial Funeral Home. As the Coordinator, I’ll choose a successor this spring to pick up where I leave off in September.  

(MFH) We’re looking forward to seeing this program grow Laura. Thank you for all of your hard work. Your time and effort have bettered our program and the lives of our families!    

To learn more about the Parent Helper Program,  please contact Laura at Salve~  

laura.vecoli@salve.eduor Maria at MFH ~

maria@memorialfuneralhome.com   

 ”Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened.  Happiness never decreases by being shared.”  ~Buddha