With our 2024 Give Grief a Voice Art Reveal just a few days away, we wanted to take a moment to reflect on a little over half a decade of work on the GGaV project and give our hive a peek behind the curtain on the hard work it takes to make this project possible year after year.

Origin Story

Our organization had already been steadily growing with our Financial Gifts program; however as our founder Amanda began talking to other bereaved parents, many expressed that they didn’t need financial support but wanted to talk about their child and longed for a new memory. Thus, in 2019, she came up with the idea to offer the ability to tell their story, have it professionally written, and then commission art pieces based on the story. 

To date, the Give Grief a Voice project has told the stories of 63 families, a number that we hope to continue to grow. The entire process takes a monumental effort from our artists and writers, who are often telling the stories and creating pieces for multiple families at once. While Buzzy’s is primarily a volunteer-run organization, we pride ourselves on paying our artists and writers for their efforts to support this project and to provide this service to the families at no cost to them.

Selecting Families
A Give Grief a Voice season starts at the beginning of each calendar year, though we accept applications to the project throughout the year. Committee members meet and review applications to determine which ones best fit our mission of supporting families who have unexpectedly lost a child (stillbirth to 12). Once the committee decides which families to invite to the program, a team member coordinates a time for the families to meet with their writer.  

Building the Story & Art
All family conversations begin with the same question: “tell me where you are in your grief today.” Then, we give our families the floor to talk about their child, their memory, and their grief experience. Sometimes there’s laughter, often there’s tears, and after every conversation we leave honored with the responsibility of sharing the story of a beautiful child gone too soon. 

At the end of the interview, the family selects their artist from a Buzzy’s curated portfolio of our artists’ work and the writer begins to write the family’s story. Some writers tell the story as a letter from the child to their parents; others write it from the parents’ perspective. From there, the story is sent to the artist.

Every artist approaches creating their piece a little differently. Some ask for family photos, music, or objects from the families to help connect with the child. They pull out symbols and images from the stories to put to canvas. Some are portraits, and others are symbolic depictions. 

The Reveal

While the stories and art are being created, our team turns its attention to planning our annual Give Grief a Voice Art Reveal event weekend in the fall, where families are able to view their art for the first time and then take it home. We regard the Art Reveal event weekend as an opportunity to build community. Families are invited to meet and connect with other bereaved families who have also participated in the program. The weekend’s events include a bonfire and brews evening for the Dads and a brunch for the Moms. It becomes a time for sharing stories of sadness and even joy as the beloved little ones gone too soon are remembered. 

On the evening of the Art Reveal event, team members escort families to their art for the first time and read them the artist’s statement, which explains the artist’s work and sometimes offers the artist’s personal perspective on the story. After seeing their artwork for the first time, attending families gather with alumni families and supporters for a meal before our team members carefully package their art for them to take home or prepare to ship the pieces to  those who were connected via Zoom to view their art. We have been very thankful for the professional packaging and shipping of these pieces which has been donated by Navis Pack & Ship, Portland. 

We could not be more grateful for the efforts of our team of volunteers, artists, and writers who make this project possible and to our generous donors for helping us fund this work. While our 2024 Art Reveal event is a private affair, a departure from previous years, we invite you to join us on October 25th for our fundraising luncheon to learn more about and support the project. If you are interested in attending, please RSVP to let us know you’re coming. If you would like to support the project but are unable to attend, we invite you to make a donation through our website. To view art from previous years, visit our virtual gallery.

Thank you for 6 years of helping us support grieving families.