Avow has received a $75,000 grant from the Naples Children & Education Foundation (NCEF), founders of the Naples Winter Wine Festival, to support its youth bereavement programs.
“Since 1983, Avow has cared for Collier County’s terminally ill residents and their loved ones,” said Jaysen Roa, president and CEO of Avow companies. “We continue to recognize a great need in our community for bereavement support for children. By providing these free resources for anyone in the community, our expert team is helping to improve the quality of life for hundreds of children and adults.”
Avow Kids has been providing bereavement services for children ages 5-17 years old for more than 36 years. Offering support and companionship to children who are grieving the loss of a parent, sibling, friend, or relative through illness, accident, suicide or homicide, Avow also helps children process other types of loss including divorce, loss of a friend, instability in the foster care system, or deployed or incarcerated parents and family members. Support is in the form of in-school workshops, individual one-on-one sessions, family groups, day and overnight camps and special activities. All Avow Kids services are offered without charge.
The NCEF grant will partially fund the salary and benefits for the art therapist, and a new/additional children’s services coordinator along with funding for Camp Mending Heart.
In 2018, Avow provided 1,259 bereavement visits to children between the ages of 5-17 in the Avow Kids program. It costs close to $500,000 a year to operate the children’s bereavement programs, which are also supported in part by a grant from the Community Foundation of Collier County.
About the Naples Children& Education Foundation
The Naples Children & Education Foundation, the founding organization of the Naples Winter Wine Festival, is improving the educational, emotional, and health outcomes of underprivileged and at-risk children. Through its annual grants and strategic initiatives, NCEF has impacted over 45 of the most effective nonprofits in the community, providing 250,000 children with the services and resources they need to excel. NCEF’s unique approach, which emphasizes collaboration between organizations and bridges public and private resources, has become a blueprint for how to transform a community, one issue at a time.
About Avow
Avow is a community-focused, not-for-profit organization, serving its friends, families and neighbors living in Collier County, Fla. since 1983. Avow provides specialized end-of-life care to those living with a life-threatening illness and offers support to those who are caring for them. The Avow interdisciplinary care team provides medical care, pain management, palliative care for adults living with serious illness, and complementary therapies. Avow cares for patients wherever they live. In addition, Avow has the only free-standing hospice house in Collier County for in-patient acute care. Avow also offers grief and bereavement support to the families and friends of patients as well as anyone in the community who has experienced a loss. Avow is a non-profit organization that relies on community donations to help fund patient care and programs for the community. The phone number to call for any Avow service is 239-261-4404 or visit www.avowcares.org.
