Thank you, JCF

I would like to publicly recognize and thank the Juneau Community Foundation and the Douglas-Dornan Foundation Fund for awarding a grant for $2,225 to Brave Heart Volunteers in Sitka. A special thank you goes to Paul Douglas, the Douglas-Dornan Fund Advisor, for his kind consideration and recommendation to award the grant.

Brave Heart Volunteers is a nonprofit organization that offers free social, emotional, and educational support services to Sitkans who are experiencing grief, loneliness, or nearing the end of life. For over twenty years, our volunteers have served at the bedsides of the dying, companioned elders who suffer profound loneliness, and provided bereavement support for the grieving. BHV also provides outstanding volunteer training, respite for caregivers, and community education on grief, loss, and death.

With the pandemic, most everyone experienced a heightened sense of isolation, loss, and grief. Pandemic restrictions also deprived those who lost loved ones, from observing customary funeral rituals, leaving them with unresolved grief. As such, BHV has seen a marked increase in requests for support as people seek healing ways to express and cope with their grief. Funding from the Douglas-Dornan Foundation will help BHV provide these essential services for grieving Sitkans.

Thank you again to the Juneau Community Foundation and the Douglas-Dornan Foundation Fund. We are deeply grateful for this grant.

In gratitude,

Angie DelMoral, Executive Director

Brave Heart Volunteers