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How to help?

mae0111mae0111 member
edited January 2014 in Working Moms
There is a local family that has gone through a terrible tragedy in recent months. 2 young kids lost both of their parents within 2 months - one was ill for a short time, the other very suddenly and unexpectedly. I knew one parent growing up and had recently connected with the grandparents of the kids. Our connection was unrelated to the recent events.

The two young kids are in the care of these grandparents now. I want to do something meaningful for them or the kids. A scholarship fund has been set up, and I tried to organize a corporate gift since the mom worked at my company until her death. For a number of reasons, the gift can't go directly to the kids, but a donation will be made in her name to an appropriate registered charity.

What would you do? I want to stress that I don't know the family well. I don't care if they know that the gift came from me. I just want to do something to make their lives a little easier or brighter for a minute. But I have no ideas. I could just donate to the scholarship fund, but it doesn't seem to be enough.

(Edited for formatting, and also to add...)  Adding - I don't think money is necessarily an issue.  The grandparents are not well off, but the parents both had good jobs in financial services.  I know our company has a generous life insurance package at little to no cost to employees.
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Re: How to help?

  • mae0111mae0111 member
    Thank you both.  @cjcouple - build a bear was exactly what I was thinking.  I was thinking of just sending it to the grandparents for them to use as a special day when they saw fit.  Maybe a gc for lunch after as well. 

    @K3am - I'm sorry to hear about your dad.  The kids are 6 and 3, and I wouldn't ever reach out to them directly.  My thought was to do something through the grandparents, and allow them to introduce it as they felt they could. 

    Maybe I will just stick to the scholarship...
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  • jc&catjc&cat member

    Depending on the amount you want to spend, a donation to the scholarship would be nice and a day out kind of thing is equally nice. I was thinking like a membership to the childrens museum or soemthing similar. It's once things calm down and the day to day sets in that these g-parents might need a fun distraction (bad word but you catch my drift). That sounds so horrible. The poor family.

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  • FemShepFemShep member
    In addition to the above (great) suggestions, I would also write a letter to the grandparents, to be shared with the kids when they're older, that talks about how you knew their parent and shares some of your memories of the parent.

    One of the most difficult parts of losing a parent is feeling like you missed out on the chance to know them, and I'm sure hearing your wonderful recollections would be a comfort to the grandparents now and to the children when they're older.
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