When Leah returned to school after her dad died, she wanted something familiar. She had asked her classmates not to make a big deal of what had happened.Instead, she opened her locker to find it overflowing with cards.“It was really sweet but I wanted the...

Brent Williams had a plan.He was visiting his son Fisher’s second-grade classroom to talk about his work as a mission planning manager for the Chandra X-ray Observatory. He’d prepared a PowerPoint presentation, complete with NASA pins and posters for the students.When he asked his wife,...

In October 2024, Brenda Walsh-Segesdi marked 30 years of volunteering with The Children’s Room.Her involvement began in 1994, when TCR was still a new initiative operating out of Hospice West in Waltham, two years before it formally became an independent nonprofit.That October, Brenda noticed something...

Carrie was 11 years old when her father, Craig, died in a helicopter accident.She remembers wanting to talk about it.“I definitely was craving talking about it at the time,” she says.Carrie was the youngest of four children, who were 11, 14, 17, and 20 when...

Reflections from Karen KoretskyIn 1999 or 2000, I came across a call for volunteers for The Children’s Room in the Boston Globe.I was a young mother living in Arlington, working from home and looking for something meaningful outside of it. I had a background in...

Every fall, new families walk through the blue door at The Children’s Room.For many, it is their first experience with a peer support group.They may know that the other people in the room have also experienced the death of someone close to them. They may...

It rained on Walk day in 2012.Still, people showed up.They walked three miles through Arlington in memory of parents, siblings, partners, children and friends who had died.Among them was Chris Watson.Chris had set a goal of raising $10,000 for The Children’s Room that year. By...

Fisher Williams has never liked running.“Like, I’ve never done it for my own enjoyment.”His dad, Brent, probably would have considered that a pretty good reason to run anyway.Growing up, Brent encouraged Fisher to do the things that felt hard. To challenge himself and try things...