editor’s note: This post was originally published in July of 2014 but has been updated to include recent events.
The first few weeks of grief after losing a child are a mixture of rage, sadness, helplessness and fear: An unstable concoction that can react and explode at any given moment. As someone who can now count himself among the unfortunate fraternity of those who lost a child I am sometimes asked by people to reach out to others who have recently suffered the same loss. The almost universal inquiry that follows is if I can say something , anything, that will help them or guide them along their path. Sadly, it is in those early days that words will have little or no effect. I cannot describe the hysteria that is felt in the immediate aftermath other than to say it is a wheel of emotions in perpetual flux. You … Read More
We are doing a limited run of our Make America Kind Again sweatshirts just in time for the holiday season! After a crushing 2020, your support will help us raise the funds to continue our programs in 2021. Orders will arrive on or around 12/16/20.gn-embed-v1″>
… Read More
Families in our community need our help now, perhaps more than ever before…
Sadly, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, many of our drop-off locations are unable to physically collect toys this year. In a year where we expect the need for donations to increase exponentially this could be potentially devastating. Fortunately we have a solution that we think could help offset the loss of physical locations: Contactless donation through online retailers!
The easiest way to do it is to click on our Amazon wishlist (HERE) This will set up shipping and allow you to choose from the gifts our experience tells us are the most needed.
If you do choose Amazon, we are preferably asking any/all of Rees’ pieces to go to smile.amazon.com and choose the ReesSpecht Life Foundation as the non-profit you will support (doing this will ensure that a portion of proceeds will go directly to … Read More
I haven’t written a blog post here in over two years. It’s not out of a lack of will, or time – it was out of a lack of necessity…
After I lost my son Rees in October of 2012 I started writing right away (well as soon as our power was restored after the devastation of Hurricane Sandy). I consistently updated the blog for many years, sharing our family’s journey through the grief that brought us down and the kindness that lifted us up. My feelings and experiences were laid bare to the world – raw and unfiltered.
With every post, so many people reached out to me thanking me for lifting their spirits and reminding them that there is a pervasive goodness that permeates our society that too often goes unnoticed. In reality, I always felt undeserving of their thanks as the blog was my outlet for my… Read More