Noah's Ark Children's Transitional Care Foundation

Our foundation serves families who are dealing with the hardships associated with the loss or losing a child. Additional funding would support our next step to acquire a perpetual care cemetery and chapel to minimize those cost to the family as burial costs are astronomical ranging from ~$3,000-$8,000, depending on the age of the child. These cost do not include the funeral home services, embalming, programs, flowers and police escorts. Until completion of the cemetery, the funds would allow us to cover all burial costs.  Moreover  additional funds will allow us to expand our current program by supplementing our counseling services to manage the long term impact of grief. In addition it will create an opportunity to provide additional psychiatric services for those significantly impacted by the trauma of grief,  especially deaths secondary to violence. We would also like to increase the marketing and outreach component of our foundation. Marketing is vital because we need to share our services and mission with the public. Our volunteers work diligently to serve these families however we need at least three full-time, paid staff members to build the foundation and operate efficiently to accommodate the recent increase in need. 

As an individual, I would define my purpose as one of service. When Noah's family could not afford to pay for his funeral costs, my family's immediate response was to step in and help. It was heart-breaking to see the look on the face of Noah's parents regarding the concern of how they would handle his death financially, take precedent over how they would live life without him emotionally. We witnessed how lifting the financial burden from this family, allowed them the freedom to grieve their child. Our goal as a foundation is to support families who are dealing with the transitioning of a child from this life. We support them by offering resources for counseling, funeral expenses, burial expenses and emotional support through respite and a family support partner. Our aim is to offer hope during what may be considered the darkest days so that families are able to grieve the loss of their loved one. In the future, we want to continue to expand our reach, by having partners nationwide. Our forthcoming perpetual care cemeteries will represent a place of rest for these children with uplifting landscaping, a chapel for intimate services and memorials for their families. 

A funeral and burial can cost on average $10,000, according to the National Funeral Directors Association. Our foundation alleviates the financial and emotional burden that is often placed on grieving families. This population often does not have life insurance. Many families do not have the resources to cover such an unexpected cost in such a short period of time. Funerals typically take place 1-7 days after date of expiration. We have witnessed the emotional fog that surrounds a family upon the loss of a child. Our foundation serves as the liaison. We are in contact with the funeral homes on behalf of the family, transcribe obituaries and programs, sit with families as they make choices on flowers, caskets, etc. Our clients are not required to make final arrangements at the funeral home because we meet them in the comfort of their home. We aim to decrease the strain of the immediate decisions that have to be made as one is bereaved and offer families a different experience with grief.  We remain in close contact with our families during the planning phase through home visits to deliver food, phone calls, texts and we continue this contact in the weeks and months to follow.

The funeral and nuptial industries can attribute much of their success to the extreme emotion that is wrapped around marriage and death. Our foundation works closely with those involved in the funeral industry however we are lead by compassion versus money. We are the anchor that steadies a family during the darkest time in their lives. NACTCF serves families of various backgrounds, races and social classes. We relieve our families from the pressures that have been weighing down grieving families for centuries. There are so many heavy and emotional decisions that have to be made when a family looses a loved one. We have come to the conclusion that while a family wants to be involved in these decisions, they are at a point where they should be catered to and loved on. As soon as a family is informed that their child's life span is going to be negatively impacted either by trauma or diagnosis, they can receive services from NACTCF. They can begin counseling, request respite services, receive meals and when the time comes a member of NACTCF will walk hand in hand with them in making the final arrangements for their child. 

NACTCF forms relationships with the families that we serve. While writing a check is great for a family who needs financial assistance, what a family needs is someone to pull them out of the deep waters of grief. We have found that the only way to rescue a family from the triecious waters of grief is to get in the water and guide them back to shore. Our support for our families involve: picking up the deceased child from the morgue with the funeral director to escort them to the funeral home, completing paperwork with the family for the death certificate, ordering urns and placing ashes in them, delivering food, providing respite services so that the family can have a moment away, transcribing obituaries/programs, sitting with families as they choose the items for the funeral services, contacting the cemetery to make burial arrangements, delivering dress clothes for the final viewing to the funeral home and whatever else the family requests that is attainable. Our goal is to continue to add to our list of services. We know that our impact is effective because the families we serve have told us so. We realize that our greatest impact is our service.