a message from Calm Waters
Who do you miss?
“I miss you.”

Those three words cut straight to the heart of what I’ve been feeling over the past few months as our community and world struggles to cope with the effects of COVID-19.
I've missed seeing my parents, hugging my little niece, spending time with my best friend. I have missed out on life as I'd known it and surprisingly, this pandemic has triggered overwhelming feelings of past grief - the suicide of my father when I was young girl, or the babies I lost to miscarriage when trying to start our family.
I can't help but wonder what grief you are also remembering. These feelings have caused me to realize how much greater the need for Calm Waters will be as we continue to navigate our new “normal."
You see, Calm Waters serves children, teens and adults who have experienced grief due to death, divorce, or other traumatic loss through FREE support groups at our Center and in schools across central Oklahoma.

The families we serve were already dealing with so much guilt, shame, depression and sadness before COVID-19 and now, it’s compounded because they are even more isolated and separated from the people they love. And thousands of other children and families in our community are feeling the same. I bet you are one of them.
The Calm Waters team and I would love to know about your special person! Tell us about them when you make your online donation ! We would be honored to send a postcard letting your special person, or their surviving family, know they are missed and how precious your donation is to the children and families we serve.

It’s only because of the support of generous supporters like you that the dedicated staff and volunteers of Calm Waters are able to sit with each child and adult in their grief journey, and provide much needed mental health support and services for FREE. I am incredibly grateful for you and have thought of you often over the past several weeks, hoping you are safe and healthy.

Warmly,
Erin Engelke, Executive Director

P.S. Please consider making a tax-deductible gift of $100 or more by June 30 in honor or memory of someone special you miss. Every gift helps a child or family grieving someone they love!
P.P.S. This year, thanks to the CARES Act, every family has a new opportunity to deduct up to $300 in charitable contributions regardless if you itemize or not. Take advantage of this unique way of giving back to Calm Waters along with having a tax incentive for doing so. For more information and to make an online donation, please visit Calmwaters.org .  
Calm Waters Center for Children and Families | 405-841-4800 | Calmwaters.org