Grief centre appeals for support from Limerick public to expand services after ‘generous gift’ from Mercy Sisters

THE Children’s Grief Centre in Limerick is calling on the support of the public to help transform a vacant building into a state-of-the-art facility to ensure a brighter future for bereaved and grieving children. 

The Children’s Grief Centre - which is the only centre of its kind in Ireland - has received a generous gift of a new premises at the John Henry Newman Campus at Mary Immaculate College. 

The building has been gifted by the Mercy Congregation, South Central province.

Located off South Circular Road, Limerick, it is currently vacant and requires a full renovation to become a purpose-built service catering for up to 70 children per week.

“The demand for the services continues to grow to the point where we now have a waiting list of over 300,” explained Olive Foley at the launch of the fundraising endeavour, Our Dream Build Funding Campaign, this Thursday morning. 

Olive is an ambassador for the Children's Grief Centre and the facility, she says, “is a very special place and very close to my heart.”

Olive tragically lost her husband, rugby legend Anthony Foley suddenly in 2016 when he was aged just 42. Olive received great support from the centre for her two young sons Tony and Dan.

The centre, founded by Sr Helen Culhane in 2009, currently welcomes around 25 children per week. Thanks to the generous gift by the Mercy Congregation, Helen and her team of 30 volunteers hope to expand the services.

To date, volunteers at the centre have helped more than 1,500 children affected by loss through death, separation or divorce.  Currently, however, the centre is limited in the support it can offer due space constraints.

Olive explained that to meet the demand on services at present “we urgently need to relocate to new the premises where we can help a greater number of children and young people, and to train others in this important work”. 

“Sr Helen and her team have carefully researched what state-of-the-art means for this type of facility, visiting leading examples in the USA and elsewhere,” continued Olive.

“We are massively grateful to receive the donation of this superb building which is the right size and can be adapted to meet the brief.”

Sr Helen who is a Sister of Mercy, a qualified social worker and psychotherapist said the new facility will allow for expansion of services to create a warm welcome where children, teens and their families can find healing and hope.

Jonathan Harper, the project manager, explained that the work that needs to be carried out on the gifted building includes reroofing, new electrics, new heating, replacement of windows and new staircases. A planning application is to be submitted shortly and the hope is to have the builders on site in the autumn of this year.

We are so delighted to have DrakeHourigan Architects on board to bring our vision to life ✨

Here’s an example of one of the supports rooms that @AilishDrake & @conor_hourigan have designed.

You can support our Dream Build here;https://t.co/LKrHGHxpHv pic.twitter.com/eUjQjNMW9X

— Children's Grief Centre (@children_grief) March 11, 2021

The Our Dream Build campaign began with the target of raising €1.5m with the help of the public. To date over €420,000 of that figure has been raised over the past 18 months but the centre needs to raise over €1m more to bring the project to fruition. 

The new development is to include dedicated rooms specifically designed for four to nine year olds; six to twelve year olds and teens up to 18 years; a library, three adult support rooms, a conference room and six staff offices.      

The new centre will also include a waiting room equipped with tea and coffee making facilities along with reading material for parents and guardians along with free parking. There will be an outside interactive sensory garden which will offer children an opportunity to communicate with the natural world.

“Young people’s expression of feelings is facilitated in a number of ways, appropriate to their age, developmental stage and wishes. Listening is key, but much use is made of creative play, paint, music, and sensory materials games and workbooks. Play is one of the best ways for children to work through everything they wrestle with, from everyday challenges to anxiety, fear, and even loss and death,” Sr Helen said.

For further details on how to support the development see www.childrensgriefcentre.ie or contact fundraising@childrensgriefcentre.ie or phone 087 457 8030.