Our traveling Give Grief a Voice Gallery Tour has given us the opportunity to spread awareness about grief to a larger audience while also connecting us with other organizations who serve bereaved people. Buzzy’s loves to connect and collaborate, and we’re pleased to share that two of the organizations with whom we’ve built a connection, Northwest Mothers Milk Bank in OR & Good Grief in NJ, have opened their doors to us and provided a semi-permanent home for some of our art reproductions.

Northwest Mothers Milk Bank (NWMMB) estimates that around 10% of their donors are bereaved mothers. Some of the organizations’ milk donors include mothers from our own Give Grief a Voice (GGaV) program. In 2023, when we first selected art for display at their office, we chose pieces to honor those GGaV mothers who had donated their milk. These pieces are both a remembrance of the children who have passed and a testament to the generosity of bereaved mothers who donate milk to help other families. 

Since then, we’ve occasionally changed out the art on NWMMB’s walls. The staff have shared how much they enjoy seeing the new pieces. There is one piece, however, that we try not to move. One of the dads from our GGaV program currently works at NWMMB, and the mom is also connected to the organization. She is a former employee and donated her own milk when their two children passed away. Their family’s art piece stays on the wall to honor their children and their family’s connection to both organizations.

Our art at the Northwest Mothers Milk Bank

Good Grief is another organization with whom we’re proud to be associated. This New Jersey based organization offers support and services to children and families who have experienced loss. We were connected to Good Grief through our advisory board member, Gina Kornfeind, a former UCLA Children’s Hospital social worker and a family referral partner for our GGaV program. 

Gina is currently working as Good Grief’s Community Outreach and Training Manager. We at Buzzy’s were pleased to offer Good Grief a selection of reproductions from the GGaV families with whom Gina worked when she was at UCLA. In July 2024, Good Grief received their two pieces for display in the child loss adult rooms of each of its two locations (Morristown and Princeton, NJ).

Our art at Good Grief’s child loss adult rooms

At the time, Pam Sullivan of Good Grief shared with us: “Your donation of beautiful and meaningful artwork has added an element of warmth and understanding to the rooms and I know our participants will benefit when they return to us in September.”

We value the opportunity to share our art with both of these organizations and their communities. We hope that our reproductions might bring some comfort to the families that NWMMB and Good Grief serve, and we look forward to our continuing collaboration with both organizations.