Giving, Grieving, Growing
The National Donor Family Council's one-day educational program, Giving, Grieving, Growing (GGG), provides families an opportunity to honor loved ones and learn about donation and bereavement while interacting and sharing with one another.
Since 1995, NDFC donor family volunteers have organized and presented GGG programs to families throughout the country during special events and meetings or in collaboration with local organizations.
Program Components
Each GGG program is tailored to suit the needs of the local donor family community, and generally consists of:
- Educational workshops on a variety of topics such as suicide, grief and the holidays, gender differences in grief, understanding brain death, tissue donation, donor awareness and more
- Sharing sessions designed to allow families to share stories and coping suggestions or simply listen in
- Quilt Pinning ceremony for families to pin patches in honor of loved ones to the National Donor Family Quilt
- Coffee House in which families share stories, poems or songs about loved ones
Upcoming Programs
If you would like to attend any of the Giving, Grieving, Growing programs below, please contact us at 800.622.9010 or donorfamily@kidney.org for more information:
- July 20-22, 2007, Washington, DC, in conjunction with the National Donor Recognition Ceremony and Workshop
Support for Giving, Grieving, Growing
The New York Organ Donor Network (NYODN) has hosted Giving, Grieving, Growing programs for donor families in New York City for two years. According to Arlene Barnett, Donor Family Services Manager for NYODN, "The program evaluations were good to excellent. As a result of the positive feedback, NYODN plans to offer Giving, Grieving, Growing as part of its regularly scheduled follow-up services to donor families."
Arlene also shared comments about specific educational sessions. "A number of couples at the gender differences discussion found that, for the first time since the death of their loved ones, they were actually talking about their different ways of coping. Following a session on brain death, several participants commented that this was the first time that they really understood how their loved ones had died. A session on tissue donation led many to say that these explanations finally put to rest all kinds of nightmares about the procurement of tissue."
Share Your Thoughts
Your suggestions are important to us and help us develop future programs and resources for donor families. If you attended or hosted a Giving, Grieving, Growing program, we would love to hear your comments. Please e-mail donorfamily@kidney.org or call 800.622.9010 to share your thoughts!
