A Little Hope

1. To promote awareness for the children and teens who have experienced the loss of a parent or loved one.
2. To raise money to provide grief counseling for children and teens.
3. See description below.

Human Services - Youth Development

A Little Hope was founded by Whitney Siderman Michaels, who worked at Cantor Fitzgerald in the World Trade Center, and her husband Evan Michaels. On September 11,2001, Whitney and Evan were on their honeymoon in Hawaii, when they received the call that most of the people that Whitney worked with, many of whom had just had attended their wedding, had perished,. They flew home immediately to attend countless memorial services. It was at these services that they witnessed the many children who suddenly and without warning, had to cope with the death of their parent. Whitney wanted to do something that would help them pick up the pieces of their now shattered lives.

A Little HOPE is a 501(c)(3) charitable foundation which grants funds in order to provide grief counseling and bereavement support services to children and teens who have experienced the loss of a parent or loved one, regardless of the circumstances of the death. The organization was founded by Whitney Siderman Michaels in New York City after the tragic events of September 11th, 2001. The organization funds bereavement programs and camps that offer grieving children and teens many opportunities for sharing and self-expression in healthy and positive ways, which include:
Grief counseling and peer support groups offering children and teens a wide variety of activities using art, writing, music and physical play which, by facilitating their feelings, thoughts and physical reactions of grief, helps them to cope with the loss of a family member.
Supporting efforts to develop and nurture children's and teens' personal growth by assisting projects and programming that encourage and develop the confidence, skills and opportunities that children and teens need in order to experience future success, in spite of the loss of their loved one.

The Social Security Administration (1999) and the United States Census Bureau (1985) have estimated that there are 2.5 to 3 million American children grieving the death of an immediate family member. Moreover, research suggests that approximately 90% of students will experience the loss of a family member or close friend before finishing high school (Ewalt & Perkins, 1979). Other pertinent information includes:
One in five children will experience the death of a family member;
Six out of every ten school age children experience a major loss; and
Marital separation or divorce occurs in 78% of families that experience the death of a child.
One of the most alarming social trends over the past three decades is the dramatic increase in the number of children, teens and young adults suffering from unresolved childhood grief. As a result of both our funding program and research, A Little HOPE has learned that children who experience unresolved childhood grief from the loss of a father are
Five times more likely to commit suicide (U.S.D.H.H.S, Bureau of the Census.);
Nine times more likely to drop out of high school (National Principals Association reports on the State of High Schools);
Ten times more likely to engage in substance abuse (Rainbows for all God's Children, U.K); and
Twenty times more likely to have behavioral disorders (Center for Disease Control).