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Ryan's Heart

Ranked #1,587 in Nonprofits, #328,822 overall

Non-Profit Organization for Grieving Families

Did you know that 6 out of every 10 children experience a major death by the time they have graduated high school? Were you aware that approximately 1.5 million children will have one or both parents die before they turn 18? Ryan's Heart does. That's why it is our mission to reach out and help these children and their grieving families.
Children grieve differently than adults. They are not capable of abstract thinking and need facts to help them understand death. Nor are they able to put their own fears and questions into words. Consequently, children often act out their anger, fears or denial.

Children need to grieve as part of the family. They will be repetitive with their questions as they attempt to understand the meaning of their loss. Embrace them. Comfort them. Love them. Giving children choices and avenues to express themselves will greatly increase their healing process.

Take just a moment to think about these numbers... With statistics this high, the child I'm talking about could be yours. Wouldn't you do everything you could to help your children? Of course you would. We would too. That's is exactly how Ryan's Heart came into existence. Our children were grieving the sudden and tragic loss of their father and we decided they needed our help... our guidance... our love...

Our children are our future... please join our mission as we reach out to greiving children everywhere.

Ryan's Heart

A Non-Profit Organization for Grieving Families

Ryan's Heart - Home
Our home site will give you more detail on our mission and what we are doing to help grieving children and our families. Visit us today!

Our Heartbeat...

Who we are, where we are located and what we are up to.

Ryan's Heart provides grief support to children and their families. We are a 501c3 non-profit organization that is dedicated to helping bereaved children learn to cope with their grief over the loss of a parent or a loved one. We are committed to making a positive difference in the lives of grieving children and adults both emotionally and financially.

Located in Presque Isle, ME we are reaching out to the world. Our webiste provides grief support for children and their families all over the United States. We have interactive art pages for children and will soon be featuring our new children's book, In Mamma's Heart.

We are currently actively working on our newest Program - Project Forget-Me-Not. This program features a special keepsake tote bag filled with items geared specifically for children to proocess grief. The tote bags are free of cost to the child and/or their parents and will be distributed, with parental permission, upon arrival at the participating funeral homes, to children whose lives are directly affected by death.

This project will be launched in Aroostook County, ME, however we hope that it grows State wide and beyond. You can help us reach this goal by supporting our mission and donating to our charity. Please see our website for details.
Important!

Always keep in mind that...

Grief is grief and hurt is hurt and hopefully there is hope... Almost everyone has been impacted in some way by grief. Maybe it's a death, maybe it's surgery and had an amputation, perhaps a fire and lost a home... a divorce...

Whatever the grief, there is hurt... but there can be hope with some support and care.

That's what Ryan's Heart is all about...

Remember Me...

Need to Reach Us?

E-MAIL: customerservice@ryansheartnpo.org

Mailing Address:
Ryan's Heart
17 Harmony Way Ave
Presque Isle, ME 04769

Ryan's Heart Cafe Press Store

A Non-Profit Organization for Grieving Families

Our profound messages are inspired by spirit and our our own unique designs. All proceeds earned from CafePress sales are invested back into the organization to fund programs like Project Forget-Me-Not - a new hands on, concrete program developed for children to process grief.
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Ryan's Heart Favorite lens

Miss J's Elixor for life...

Follow Miss J's story as she tells you her story about grief and where her journey has taken her.
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Grief Videos

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Grief Resources

Educating yourself about grief and how it affects children and their loved ones is more important than ever these days. I would bet that every one of us has been exposed to a child or family that has suffered a loss at some point in our lives. For me, finding the right words to say or knowing how to act is sometimes hard. Although greif is an individual journey, there are things that you can do to help.

Try reading some of these great resources to give you a little insight.
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Reader Feedback

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  • Reply
    SquidooKimberly Jan 24, 2011 @ 5:19 pm | delete
    Ryan's Heart provides assistance with a basic life skill - dealing with grief - which children unfortunately don't often learn at home. Thanks for being an active charity on Squidoo.

    Congrats on having one of the 33 Best Charity Profiles!
    http://www.squidoo.com/monsterboards/best_charity_profiles_on_squidoo
  • Reply
    callinsky Sep 17, 2010 @ 6:10 pm | delete
    I lost my mother just before I turned 18. Older than many...I was lucky. It was still devistating and drastically altered the course of my life.
  • Reply
    CDT Sep 6, 2010 @ 7:26 am | delete
    My father died after a long illness when I was 5 years old. I found that everyone tried hard to support my mother but didn't seem to comprehend that I'd suffered a loss too and that there was a great big "Dad-shaped gap" in my life. What happened most definitely had a huge impact on the person I became afterwards and the adult I am now...I wish that an organisation like yours had been around to help me when I was a child,. Kudos to you for what you do :)
    Blessed by a SquidAngel :)
  • Reply
    SquidooKimberly Jul 1, 2010 @ 10:15 am | delete
    Congratulations on your Sunshine Award! Thanks to Teacher2, you've won $99 to support your organization. http://blogs.squidoo.com/squidblog/2010/07/01/sunshine-award-taking-things-for-granted/
  • Reply
    LoKackl May 3, 2010 @ 9:36 am | delete
    This is probably the most cherished charity for me at Squidoo. When my 16-year-old daughter died in 1983, I was so devastated it took too long for me to recognize the special needs of my son, who was 12 at the time. My lens bereaved-children donates 100 percent to Ryans Heart. SqudiAngel Blessed/5*/fav/roll to "Secrets of Bereaved Children
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