Project H.O.P.E. & Children’s Gallery

Each summer children participate in Project H.O.P.E. (Healing Ourselves through Personal Expression) with the programmatic goal of providing grieving children with an outlet to express their grief in a healthy, creative way and to raise awareness of grieving children and teens. Items created by children during the program are then exhibited in the Children's Gallery on the Hospice & Community Care campus.

Project H.O.P.E.

Project H.O.P.E. was created to provide an outlet for each child’s personal expressions of grief through the melding of expressive arts and grief counseling. Project H.O.P.E. sessions conclude with art exhibited at a local gallery - highlighting the participant’s creations and providing an avenue for public discussion - subsequently raising community awareness of grieving children and teens. Because we know a child supported through loss with the reassurance that their grief feelings are normal, and one who learns appropriate ways to express their emotions, is better able to cope with loss now and throughout their lifetime. Hospice & Community Care determined that children and teens in our community would have a space to call their own within the Hospice Campus, and we would have a devoted area for the expressions created by those touched by grief and loss.

CHILDREN’S GALLERY

Within the community building is a dedicated children’s grief counseling area
which includes a light-filled workshop, children’s garden and whimsical children’s art gallery. The Children’s Gallery was inspired by the depth and strength of the art collected through Project H.O.P.E. (Healing Ourselves through Personal Expression).

The Children’s Gallery is equipped with fanciful lighting to bring the artists’ pieces to light. Project H.O.P.E. creations donated by children artists will rotate during the year proving budding artists a place to share their works with the community before taking their creations home to enjoy.