About SandCastles

SandCastles Grief Support Program provides a caring place for children, teens and their families who have experienced a death. SandCastles offers quality community-based family grief services, which include peer support and are enhanced by educational outreach.

Because we are a nonprofit organization, we rely on contributions from families and the community to cover the costs for each child/teen. Therefore, we ask that families make tax-deductible donations as they are able. All families are served, regardless of their ability to pay. The C.A.T.C.H. Scholarship Fund supports families that are unable to contribute.

We at SandCastles believe that every child and teen deserves the opportunity to grieve in a supportive, nurturing environment.  Grieving children and teens are offered a special place where they can interact with peers who have experienced similar losses, learn life-long coping skills and most importantly, begin a healthy healing process. 

Support groups for children and teens ages 3 to 18 and their parents/guardians are offered twice monthly, in the evening at the following locations:  Clinton Township, Detroit, Downriver/Riverview, Livonia, Rochester, St. Clair Shores, and Southfield.

In 2009, SandCastles served 966 children, teens and adults at our 7 locations.  We would not be able to support all of these family members if it weren’t for the kindness and compassion of our volunteers.  They say, “Behind every successful man is a strong woman” but SandCastles says, “Behind every supported family there is a compassionate volunteer”.  Although we have many volunteers, we are still in need of many more.  It takes a minimum of 15 volunteers to run a program at capacity. 

Most children’s grief centers around the country have one site in which all community members go to for services. With our area being so large, we have seven to their one.  So the need to support our sites in comparison is much greater. 

Simply put, the more volunteers we have, the more children and teens we can support during this most tumultuous time of their lives.  If you have ideas of how to recruit more volunteers or are willing to market for volunteers in your work or home area, please let us know.   We would love to have them on our team.