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Jigsaw4u receives National Lottery funding to help its work
Published on November 23, 2009
The National Lottery's small grants scheme 'Awards for All' has awarded a grant of £8,730 to Epsom-based children’s charity Jigsaw4u which supports children and young people coping with grief, loss and trauma in the Epsom and Kingston area.
The National Lottery funding will help Jigsaw4u run groups for families where children have experienced the death of a close family member from illness, accident, suicide or murder. According to research, one in every 25 children and young people will experience the death of a parent before the age of 18 years.
The charity recently launched a new grief support service in Epsom, with a new office at Riverview Primary School in West Ewell.
Carol Bason, Service Manager Surrey, from Jigsaw4u says "We are delighted to have received this funding which we will be using to pay for the equipment, room hire and transport costs for families and our 'buddy' volunteers that we need to run the groups. At these groups, bereaved children and adults talk about feeling alone and different. When they are at our groups they are with others who understand how they feel. Buddy volunteers lend a helping hand to the children. We wouldn't manage without them – we have about six per group and we're always looking for more volunteers."
'Buddy' volunteers are trained by Jigsaw4u to provide one to one support for young people and children at the groups. For example, they help families make "memory boxes". Children and young people are encouraged to bring in mementoes of their loved one such as pictures and talk about them.
Carol says "What happens when a young person loses a parent is that they are unable to talk about that person. The memory box enables them to talk about the person and what they are experiencing."
