Tomorrow's Rainbow www.TomorrowsRainbow.org was the vision of its founder and executive director, Abby Mosher, after a family tragedy identified the lack of understanding and support for children grieving the death of a loved one. The Mosher family's vacation ended abruptly when a head-on collision took the life of husband and father, Paul Mosher, and left Abby and her 7 year old son, Dustin, struggling to heal from their physical and emotional injuries. Unfortunately, Abby learned firsthand that there was a tremendous void in her community for bereaved children and their families.

Tomorrow's Rainbow provides grieving children, teens and their families an emotionally safe environment for hope and healing through guidance and support. The Tomorrow's Rainbow Ranch is the home of the first grief center to combine the time tested best practices of facilitated peer support with the therapeutic use of miniature horses. In October 2005, Tomorrow's Rainbow offered its first grief support program, free of charge, to children and their families that had experienced the death of a loved one. Since then, one support group has grown to 10 bi-weekly groups with hundreds of families having experienced the comprehensive and innovative approach to grief support that occurs at Tomorrow's Rainbow Ranch. Tomorrow's Rainbow has grown from a vision of its founder, to a highly respected program that receives daily referrals from schools, mental health professionals, doctors, hospice organizations and social agencies.

One in 20 children will experience the death of a parent by the time they graduate from high school. In the Tri-County area alone, this equates to over 60,000 children, and does not include the children grieving the death of a sibling, grandparent, aunt, uncle or close friend. The numbers of grieving adolescents are staggering. Studies show that without support grieving children are at great risk of self-destructive and negative behaviors.

Although the program is free of charge, Tomorrow's Rainbow recognizes that there are other circumstances which prevent a grieving child from participating in the program. The Hopeful TEARS Institute (Teach, Empower & Advocate for Resilience and Success) was established to fill this gap in services. The Institute provides educational opportunities that focus on recognizing and supporting a child's grief journey. Through on-site and off-site programming, Tomorrow's Rainbow strives to reduce the need for clinical and institutional interventions resulting from unsupported, unresolved grief.

Tomorrow's Rainbow is funded solely by private and corporate donations and receives no government funding. The agency maintains a modest budget and relies heavily on a group of over 150 dedicated volunteers to achieve its mission. To learn more, please join us for a Hopeful TEARS Tour – a one hour informational tour of the Tomorrow's Rainbow Ranch that will motivate and inspire you to learn more about grieving children. For more information, call 954-978-2390 or visit our website at www.TomorrowsRainbow.org.