Split the Plate is one of UUCW’s programs of outreach and generosity.  Each month we give half of all undesignated offering monies to a non-profit organization as a way to help us live our Unitarian Universalist values and serve our community.

November Split the Plate Supports Healing Hearts, a community-based organization whose mission is to serve and support grieving children and their families.  In October 2009, a group of concerned individuals representing six Waukesha churches and two funeral homes began meeting to address the need for a safe place for children and families to grieve.  This insightful group recognized that there are many types of losses and causes of grief.

They established Healing Hearts of Waukesha County, Inc. as a 501 (c) (3) public charity organization in 2010, their mission being “to serve and support grieving children and their families”.  Healing Hearts offers free peer-support programs for children and the significant adults in their lives who are dealing with loss due to death, divorce, substance abuse, abandonment, incarceration, deportation, and other life-altering events.  Since 2010 it has helped more than 900 participants representing over 349 families.

Gabriel the therapy dog recalls on one occasion how he saw one boy with his head down on the table and did not want to join his small group.  In his non-threatening way, he put his head on the boy’s lap and stayed with him until the boy was ready for Gabriel to walk him to his small group.   Gabriel and his master Deb are loyal to Healing Hearts and provide much-needed comfort and support.

This wonderfully valuable organization delivers validation, support, joy, and hope to an overlooked group in our community: our grieving children.

Here are some comments from some past participants:

  • Healing Hearts takes my dark clouds away and brings the sun (8-year-old)
  • It helps me talk things through. I feel like I have more people to trust. (13-year-old)
  • On your worst day, you can look forward to going to Healing Hearts. It gives a little bit of light. (15-year-old)
  • Healing Hearts is a place to take these feelings of grief and sadness in a world that usually doesn’t want to hear about them. (Adult)

To donate to Healing Hearts of Waukesha County, go to the UUCW website’s donate tab. For more information about Split the Plate, contact Kathy Herrewig. For more information, go to the Healing Hearts of Waukesha County website.