Tidewell Foundation elevating family grief services through crowdfunding opportunity

Tidewell Foundation, Inc. is participating in A Community Thrives, a nationwide grantmaking and crowdfunding initiative that leverages the USA TODAY NETWORK to help nonprofits raise more money for their missions. The initiative gives donors an opportunity to elevate Tidewell’s efforts to care for those who need it most in our region.

The top A Community Thrives fundraisers between now and noon Friday, Oct. 16 will be eligible to receive a $100,000 grant from the Gannett Foundation. Receiving this grant would help the Tidewell Foundation make its Blue Butterfly Family Grief Center more accessible by funding the launch of the Tidewell Blue Butterfly Mobile Outreach program, which will focus on bringing free grief services to children who are suffering from the death of a parent or family member. Tidewell will launch this mobile outreach program in the Newtown community of Sarasota, one of the city’s oldest historically African American communities.

“The Tidewell Foundation is excited to participate in this transformative grant opportunity,” Tidewell Foundation President Debbie Mason said. “Receiving this grant would help the Foundation take Blue Butterfly’s free grief services mobile and give us added capacity to touch more children and caregivers who are impacted by the loss of a loved one, regardless of where they live. We are grateful to all of those helping to make this dream possible through their generous donations to A Community Thrives on our behalf.”

Tidewell’s Blue Butterfly is 100% donor supported and is the only evidence-based program in our region that helps grieving children, teens and caregivers through professional counseling, peer-support groups and therapeutic activities. The Blue Butterfly Mobile Outreach program will bring healing and community building opportunities to outlying areas where access to support sites is limited.

Since its inception in April 2018, Blue Butterfly has served more than 200 families in Sarasota, Manatee, Charlotte and DeSoto counties. In the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, Blue Butterfly innovated to provide its programs virtually before recently resuming in-person programming with necessary safety protocols.

Through the generosity of donors, Tidewell’s grief and bereavement services are offered for free to community members in addition to patients and families. To learn more about Tidewell’s Blue Butterfly Family Grief Center Program, visit https://tidewellhospice.org/home/programs/grief-support/blue-butterfly/.

To support the Tidewell Foundation in A Community Thrives and help make the Blue Butterfly Mobile Outreach program possible, visit https://acommunitythrives.mightycause.com/organization/Tidewell-Foundation.

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The Tidewell Foundation, Inc. is an independent 501 (c) (3) charitable foundation established to fund perpetual philanthropic support to Tidewell Hospice and the healthcare companies within the Stratum Health System family. Charitable contributions to the Tidewell Foundation sustain and grow the critically important programs and services provided through the not-for-profit mission of Tidewell Hospice and its affiliates. Donor-funded programs offer compassion and comfort to those who need it most in our community by caring for all, regardless of their ability to pay. It starts with generosity and is paid forward with every patient connection, family served and life changed. Discover how each donation strengthens our community; learn more by visiting www.tidewellfoundation.org.