Florida Power & Light Company (FPL) has joined forces with Valerie’s House to foster hope and renewed dreams for girls and young women at Pace Center for Girls, who are enduring the added challenge of dealing with grief.
FPL provided a generous $5,000 donation through its NextEra Energy Foundation. Valerie’s House will use the funds to provide critical onsite grief support in the classrooms at the Pace Center, ensuring those grieving loss through death, incarceration or abandonment receive the care they need.
Laurie Rodgers, executive director of Pace Center for Girls Escambia-Santa Rosa counties explained they provide holistic services — counseling, academics, leadership and career preparation — designed to address the girls’ needs and overcome trauma, which many of them have experienced.
“Unfortunately, grief counseling is a specialty that we do not offer,” Rodgers said. “When I heard about Valerie’s House, I immediately thought of all the girls who have lost a loved one. And I knew we needed to be able to access this wonderful opportunity. However, with transportation challenges, the Pace girls do not have a way to attend the therapy meetings in the evenings at Valerie’s House.”
Valerie’s House, a non-profit in Pensacola with the primary mission of helping children grieve the death of a family member, provides services at its house on Gadsden Street.
“At Valerie’s House, we have a mission. We want kids to know they are not alone, and loss does not have to limit their dreams, said Crista Brandt, Northwest Florida director. She said she and her small team always find ways to break down barriers to provide grief services, including taking services to the Pace Center’s classroom during the school day.
Brandt shares, “Children who have lost a parent, without the support of others and the tools to know how to grieve, often turn to risk-taking and self-harming behaviors, drugs, criminal activity and other disorders to cope with their grief. Without proper tools and positive intervention, grief can manifest itself in ways that negatively impact the child and society in general. We are working to change the trajectory of these girls’ lives and the lives that they will touch.”
Valerie’s House launched peer-to-peer services to the Pace Center’s classrooms in the beginning of 2023. Through the weekly sessions, girls like 16-year-old Jordan, are working through thoughts and feelings they were not able to identify and express prior to participating. “I was never able to open up before attending the grief group,” Jordan stated. “All the activities they do with us in the group allowed me to trust them and express myself without using words. I’ve had several losses in my life, including my best friend who passed away last year. Until being in this group, if someone brought her name up, I had to just walk away. Now, I am able to talk about her and be okay with it.”
Valerie’s House fulfills a huge need in the community with an estimated 9,000 children experiencing grief in Escambia and Santa Rosa counties annually. With about 120 children actively seeking their services at the Gadsden Street house alone, the nonprofit, like so many, are dependent on grants and donations to offer their services for free.
Jenni Elzweig, Valerie’s House program manager, said FPL’s donation will help expand its services and purchase high-quality program materials for ongoing grief group activities, as well as a field trip to Valerie’s House.
J.T. Young, vice president and general manager of FPL Northwest region, and other team members toured Valerie’s House recently.
“We were deeply moved by the important work they are doing in our community with a small staff and volunteers,” said Young. “We are truly privileged to be able to stand alongside Valerie’s House and Pace Center for Girls to support them in the life-changing work they are doing.”
How Can You Help?
Donate or volunteer at Valerie’s House
Show your support Pace Center for Girls – Escambia-Santa Rosa counties.
About Valerie’s House
Valerie’s House opened in 2016 in Fort Myers and has grown to serve more than 3,300 children and parents in the past seven years. Valerie’s House provides a safe, comfortable place for children and their families to heal together following the death of someone they love. They offer support groups and other activities at their historic home on 904 East Gadsden St., as well as their locations in Ft. Myers, Naples, and Port Charlotte. The organization is named after Valerie Melvin, a Fort Myers wife and mother of two who died in 1987 in a car accident. For more information, visit https://valerieshouse.org/pensacola