Uplift Community
 
When 13-year-old Maria called Uplift Center for Grieving Children’s Philly HopeLine in the Spring of 2021, she felt alone and needed someone to talk to. The pandemic kept her away from friends and from school where teachers supported her. During the school year, Maria also lost friends to gun violence and did not have a safe place to process her grief. With one call to Uplift’s HopeLine, Maria connected to a master’s level trained clinician, got immediate support, and received referrals to longer-term support, including Uplift’s grief groups. At the end of the hour-long conversation, Maria said she needed to share this resource with her friends because for the first time in a long time, she felt better! 
Image credit: "We The Youth" by Keith Haring, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
As the COVID-19 pandemic begins its third year, and Philadelphia’s homicide and opioid death rates skyrocket, more children, families, and communities are experiencing loss and grief. Children are missing family members, friends, classmates, and teachers. Many in our community also are experiencing loss, missing family members and friends when they can’t participate in familiar activities in familiar places.

I am proud to say that with your support, Uplift’s clinicians continue to answer the call for help. As an organization that has always emphasized direct contact and shared healing space, we have adapted to programming to fit the needs of 2021. Our clinical team used their experience and creativity to adapt our all-in-person services to all-virtual, and now they are developing adaptations to operate in-person with safety protocols. With the overriding question – “How can we continue to provide the most effective support for grieving children?” – we developed innovative tools and practices. 
  • Philly HopeLine is an award-winning, free, confidential helpline that we developed with the School District of Philadelphia in response to the pandemic for students and caregivers experiencing isolation. Staffed by Uplift clinicians, the HopeLine operates Monday through Friday. We offer dedicated service hours for Spanish speakers and LGBTQIA+ youth, and our interpretation line supports over 150 different language needs. Through the HopeLine, we can enroll children and caregivers for grief groups and we can refer them to other services when appropriate. There is no other service like this for grieving children and families in the region, and organizations across the country have reached out to learn how they might implement this in their communities. 
 
  • Grief groups provide free, five-week peer support groups with children grouped by grade level, where Uplift clinicians provide grief support and help children process their loss and develop healthy coping mechanisms. Youth and families may continue beyond an initial five weeks of support if they choose. While Uplift provided these groups virtually for the last 18 months, in January 2022, we are restarting in-person grief groups in schools across the city and partnering with community-based organizations to offer Family Service groups in neighborhoods with high rates of loss and grief. We will continue virtual groups as well, and this hybrid service model will offer increased accessibility. Donations help us offer grief groups at no cost to children and families. 
 
  • Community support at Uplift takes various forms, including grief support to schools after the death of a student or staff member. We partner with the School District and the Department of Behavioral Health and Intellectual disAbility Services to respond when a student or school staff member dies. We engage the HopeLine, offering community members a place to turn. We offer trainings and support when schools or families are having a tough time. 
All of this work is possible because of you. Your donations help our team of experienced clinicians to help Philadelphia’s children process their grief, to train caregivers to help support their children, and to train professionals including teachers and school counselors to more effectively work with grieving children. 

We don’t know what 2022 will bring, what challenges may continue or what new challenges may arise. But I do know that with your support, Uplift will be here to help children like Maria and their caregivers. Your support means that Uplift can be there alongside grieving children and families in Philadelphia.  
 
With Gratitude,
Darcy Walker Krause
Executive Director
Upcoming Events
Join Uplift’s Young Professionals Board (YPB) for an evening of bowling, drinks, and food at PEP Bowl in South Philadelphia. Located at the corner of Broad & Federal, PEP Bowl offers a state-of-the-art bowling experience in an authentic “vintage” bowling alley dating back to the 1950s.

The YPB will take over the lanes on Thursday, December 9 from 6:30 – 9:30 PM, with snacks and drinks provided for all and bowling shoes available for bowlers. You can reserve your spot for bowling from either 6:30 – 8:00 p.m. or 8:00 – 9:30 p.m., but we invite you to join us for the entire event to eat, drink and socialize.
Make the Holidays Hopeful With a Gift to Uplift

Your generosity makes possible the vital grief support Uplift provides for grieving children, youth, teens, caregivers and professionals.

This year, your gift is more important than ever. The dual pandemics of COVID-19 and racial and social injustice are enormous challenges that Philadelphia's children face every day. 

Uplift is here for them, continuing to provide vital, empowering services.


  • The CARES Act creates a new above-the-line deduction for you for total charitable contributions of up to $300. The incentive applies to cash contributions made in 2020 and can be claimed on tax forms next year.
  • The law also lifts the existing cap on annual contributions if you itemize, raising it from 60% of adjusted gross income to 100%.
Uplift Center for Grieving Children is a non-profit tax-exempt corporation under section 501(c)(3) of the IRS Code. The official registration and financial information of Uplift Center for Grieving
Children may be obtained from the Pennsylvania Department of State by calling toll-free, within Pennsylvania, 1-800-732-0999. Registration does not imply endorsement.