The mission of The Compassionate Friends is to assist families toward the positive resolution of grief following the death of a child of any age and to provide information to help others be supportive.

  The Compassionate Friends is a national nonprofit self-help support organization that offers friendship, understanding and hope to bereaved parents, grandparents and siblings.  There is no religious affiliation and there are no membership dues or fees.

  The secret of TCF’s success is simple:  As seasoned grievers reach out to the newly bereaved, energy that has been directed inward begins to flow outward and both are helped to heal.  The vision of The Compassionate Friends is that everyone who needs us will find us and everyone who finds us will be helped.

  We need not walk alone.  We are the Compassionate Friends

Why Butterflies?

Since the early centuries, the butterfly has symbolized renewed life.  The caterpillar signifies life here on earth: the cocoon, death; and the butterfly, the emergence of the dead into a new, beautiful and freer existence.  Frequently, the butterfly is seen with the word “Nika,” which means victory.  Elisabeth Kubler-Ross movingly tells of seeing butterflies drawn all over the walls of the children’s dormitories in the World War II concentration camps.  Since Elisabeth believes in the innate intuitiveness of children, she concludes that these children knew their fate and were leaving us a message.  Many members of the Compassionate Friends embrace the butterfly as a symbol-a sign of hope to them that their children are living in another dimension with greater beauty and freedom—a comforting thought to many.