Recognizing and Supporting Resilience

• To provide scholarships for the advancement of post-secondary education for youth who have experienced grief from the passing of someone close to them, have found resilience through their experience and are willing to share their story with others.
• To provide links to resources that may help  to navigate grief due to losing a loved one.
• To support grieving families by sharing our story and the stories of the recipients on what helped to support their resilience.
• To foster awareness of how community members can help to compassionately support development of resilience in youth experiencing grief.

We believe that the seed of resilience is  within every person facing grief and that friends, family and community members can help create the conditions for that seed to begin to grow.  We can water it with love, nurture it with compassion and nourish it with nonjudgmental acceptance of  feelings and experiences.  We can listen, and we can love. We can respond to what feels right to the person in grief and save the well-intentioned advice and platitudes. We can do what needs to be done in practical matters, and we can do it quietly and subtly without being asked. We can hold space when it’s welcomed,  give space when it’s wanted and we can show up when we’re asked to, in the way we’re asked to, even if it’s not particularly convenient or comfortable for us.

Zach and Kaya formed strong bonds of love and connection with their younger brothers, Ben, Nathaniel, Jackson and Isaac, and with us, their parents. The love we all share remains. We believe that this is where the seed of resilience takes root and will continue to grow throughout their brothers’ and our lifetimes. As their families, we will not allow the tragedy of Kaya and Zach’s passing to eclipse the beauty of their lives. We choose love; we Choose 2 Be Resilient, and in sharing this message through their Foundation, we invite others to do the same.