Grief Relief Refuge is a new program adapted from an old program called Good Grief Fun Day. Good Grief Fun Day (GGFD) was born out of Compassionate Friends Sibling Seminar held once a year.
At that time, I worked for Bruce Conley LFD at Conley Funeral Home, as the Bereavement Coordinator. Bruce and I both volunteered at the Sibling Seminar. I talked with him about adopting the sibling seminar as our own but expanding and creating new ways of support to include all age groups and any type of death.
I designed a volunteer model that would be held three times a year for five to six hours using a variety of venues and themes. Our emphasis would be to use fun and friendship to facilitate healing to bereaved children. He agreed, offered to financially back the idea and had some creative thoughts of his own.
Bruce made suggestions, paid the bills, participated in GGFD for the first couple years, and then became a silent partner interjecting suggestions from time to time. He was very proud of GGFD. He even would often mention to others that “ Penny is Good Grief Fun Day.”
Now it is twenty years after the first Good Grief Fun Day.
I retired in 2000. Bruce died in 2010 passing on his legacy to his son. After I left the funeral home, Bruce discontinued GGFD but continued ministering to bereaved children in a new way with a new name.
As I watch the violence expanding in America, my passion is renewed to help grieving people of all ages. I am striking out on my own as a consultant to share the success of an adapted and expanded model called, Grief Relief Refuge; a refuge to calm the troubled waters of grief.
Grief Relief Refuge 