April 2, 2025 • 32 mins
Talked with Val Staggs, Founder, Pandora's Kids. Pandora's Kids is a non-profit that provides grief services for children who've lost a loved one. They are free program that unites kids that are grieving, providing them a place to talk, meet other kids, expeirence new events and share their grief knowing they aren't alone.
"Pandora’s Kids partners with local organizations to provide experiences that are fun and create the opportunity for new friendships to form among kids in grief. At various times throughout the year, we offer music, art, equine, sports and other programs for kids to choose from. Programs are age-appropriate, run for a series of weeks and are developed with the help of our team of therapists. Registered PK Kids are eligible to participate in the programs of their choice based on age requirements and availability."
Coming up on April 26th, they have an event at Pike Food Forest, where the kids will be able to explore and learn about the edible landscape, plants and ecosystem and participate in a hands-on art project as well. They are also, participating in a fundraiser with Oceana Coffee for the month of April. Guests can drop a "bean" into the Pandora's Kids box and they'll recieve a donation from the fokls at Oceana Coffee. For information on signing up, becoming a business sponsor or making donations, listeners can go to www.Pandoraskigs.org.
"Pandora’s Kids partners with local organizations to provide experiences that are fun and create the opportunity for new friendships to form among kids in grief. At various times throughout the year, we offer music, art, equine, sports and other programs for kids to choose from. Programs are age-appropriate, run for a series of weeks and are developed with the help of our team of therapists. Registered PK Kids are eligible to participate in the programs of their choice based on age requirements and availability."
Coming up on April 26th, they have an event at Pike Food Forest, where the kids will be able to explore and learn about the edible landscape, plants and ecosystem and participate in a hands-on art project as well. They are also, participating in a fundraiser with Oceana Coffee for the month of April. Guests can drop a "bean" into the Pandora's Kids box and they'll recieve a donation from the fokls at Oceana Coffee. For information on signing up, becoming a business sponsor or making donations, listeners can go to www.Pandoraskigs.org.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
iHeart Communities Presents Palm Beach Treasure Coast Perspective, which Dad Nepp.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Good morning, Welcome to Palm Beach Treasure Coast Perspective. I'm
your host, Dev Nev. Thanks for spending your weekend with me.
All kinds are great things happening, and if you haven't
been yet, you want to get your tickets for this one.
It is Culture and Cocktails happening at the then and
this is their wrap up for their twentieth season. It's
called the Ultimate Musical Finale, featuring guests Rob Russell, Avery
Summers and some more special guests. You know, want to
(00:28):
miss it. It's gonna be the Ben Hotel on Monday,
April fourteenth, And to get more information, simply go to
Palm Beachculture dot com. And while you're there, you can
also sign up for their email. Like all the different
events and things are happening around town, They're happy to
put you on the list and then you be in
the know along with me. So a lot of good
stuff happening, and don't forget coming up on April ninth,
(00:49):
Dean Janek is going to be doing a thing called
measuring ocean health. So it's called measuring structural complexity in
the ocean. It's going to be presenting it at the
Saint Lucy County Aquarium. It is really cool. It's from
nine to ten am. Come out, grab a coffee, watch
it and have a little discussion afterward. For details call
them seven seven to two four six five thirty two
(01:11):
seventy one and you get your tickets and everything that way.
And of course Earth Day is coming up, so don't
want to miss the twenty first annual Saint Lucy Earth
Day Festival. It's going to be happening Saturday, April twelfth
from ten am to four pm. And of course that's
going to be the Oxbow Eco Center again, and they
have parking in different areas so you don't have to
park right there, free shuttles back and forth, mix it
(01:31):
very convenient. Ad Mission of course is free, and for
more details to give Eric a call seven seven two
for six two seventeen ninety one and I'll give you
the whole scoop on that. And of course Saint Lucie
County Libraries have all kinds of great things happening all
the time, so I've got all kinds of family fun
coming up Saturday April twelfth, it is steam Power exploring science, technology,
(01:54):
all the good stuff. Then Saturday, April nineteenth it is
Legos and more. And then we also have like book
groups and this is more for the grown ups. Thursday,
April tenth at four pm is going to be featuring Challenger,
a true story of heroism and disaster on the Edge
of Space, and that's by Adam Higginbotham, and that's gonna
(02:14):
be happening the lake Park branch as well, so you
can come out, read the book, talk about the books.
Fun fun, free discussions. I like those, and then of
course more family fun, adult fun. It's a puzzle swap
happening on Saturday, April twelfth from ten to unit the
Lakewood Park branch as well. They lot of stuff going
on this month, and of course all the other branches
do as well. You can go to Saint Lucy dot
(02:36):
co Ford Slash Library and all this stuff is there.
The fair Ones Golf Course is hosting tn T Easter
event on April twelfth, so it's a fun one. It's
from ten am to one pm, so give them a
call at seven seven two four six two eighteen forty
four and they'll tell you how to sign up. It's
a really fun family event, good boy, bring kids out
and then get introduced to golf and some fun things
(02:57):
for Easter as well. And this weekend is the fifteenth
annual Downtown West Palm Beach Arts Festival. It's back at
City Places weekend. It's definitely going to check it out.
They have all kinds of amazing artists and crafts there
for you to see. And of course our friends over
at the Cravis Center always got lots of great things happening.
So coming up it's their seventeenth Cravis on Broadway season
(03:20):
and this year they're going to be featuring The Whiz
Kimberly Kimbo Whi Twas the Night Before and this is
a Circa Sole Christmas one, so it's going to be
so cool, The Choir of Man Some Like It, Hot
MJ The Musical, and a Beautiful Noise the Neil Diamond Musical.
Definitely check that out. And of course wrapping that season,
that will be the Notebook based off of Nicholas Sparks's
(03:42):
book So Always Cool Things. You can go to Cravis
dot org to find out more about that, and while
you're there, you can also get tickets They have Fred
Armisan doing their comedy this weekend, so there's still some
tickets left for his show. Coming up on Monday. It
is their Arts Smart, Lunch and Learn series. It's at
eleven thirty am. And this one is going to be
(04:05):
posted by doctor Robert Watson about Le Miz. So the
musical is coming. It's part of the cravis On Broadway series.
So I'll be here in a few weeks. So this
is like a little precursor about that to get all
the history and information about that period in time. So
it's a lot of fun happens in the Gimmelstop Ballroom.
And then later on Monday night is the Old Crow
(04:25):
Medicine show Circle the Wagons Tour. It's a fun show,
fun show. Gotta check that out. Wednesday, April ninth is
The Simon and Garfunkels Story, and then April fourteenth to
the nineteenth is the next cravis On Broadway show. It's
The Clue, so they're doing the stage version of the
popular board game. I can't wait to see that one.
Super big fan of the you know, Colonel Mustard and
(04:47):
the library with the candlestick kind of thing. So much fun.
I can't wait to see how they do that. And
then of course April twenty second through the twenty seventh
will be Lima's rob as part of their Cravis on
Broadway series. And like I said, Easter is coming up,
so the Flagler Museum is again hosting their annual Easter
egg Hunt and that's going to be happening Saturday, April nineteenth.
The gates open at nine am and the hunt actually
(05:09):
begins at ten am. It always sells out, but it
is so cute to see how these kids hunting for
eggs is so fun, So simply go to Flagler Museum
dot uass to get your tickets and more information. And
while you're there, you can also sign up for tickets
for their annual Bluegrass in the Pavilion concert. It's going
to be happening Saturday April twenty six from three to
(05:31):
five pm. And this year it's the Cody North Show
returning for a second concert, and Authentic Unlimited will be
opening for them, so it's a wonderful show. Again. Go
to Flagler Museum dot us to get tickets and more information,
and if you like being outside, head over to Mounts
Botanical So coming up on Saturday April twenty sixth and
(05:51):
twenty seventh, they have their big spring plants out, so
bring these little wagons like the Little Kids Radio flower wagons.
Pe will bring all these things to carry their plans around.
Is so much fun of course, lots of family fun
entertainment as well the same day, and there's also gonna
be a high Biscuits show, so save questions about them.
They'll leave it there. Folks there to help you out
with that. And you can also check out the Ribbet
the exhibit to that's happening throughout the gardens. Lots of
(06:15):
cool things happening and for more information go to Mounts
dot org dot Mounts dot organ. All the details are
right there for you. Speaking of details, I want to
welcome my guests for today, I have Vowstags, founder of
Pandora's Kids. Good morning, good morning, thanks so much for
having me. Well, thanks for coming in, Miss vows. So
tell me a little bit about in the listeners about
(06:35):
Pandora's Kids. What is Pandora's Kids.
Speaker 3 (06:38):
So, Pandora's Kids is a grief organization that helps children
who have lost a loved one. So we serve basically
children from ages five all the way to eighteen. And
what we do is offer free events where our kids
just get together to do something that kids love to do.
So we go to trampoline parks, we go, ice skating,
we go, pup pup golfing, we go, we go to
(07:01):
the rapid so you name it. Anything that is kid friendly,
we do it. And all of that is free for
our families. And the idea is just putting children together
where they can do something fun and just get to
know other kids who are going through the exact same
thing that they are.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
And this is where they may have lost a parent, right.
Speaker 3 (07:21):
Yeah, it can be a parent, could also be a sibling.
Sometimes we have children who've lost somebody that they're very
close to. So sometimes, for instance, a grandparent who was
a primary caretaker of the child has passed away. So
those are the types of children we serve.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
Yeah, I remember being very young and my grandpast I
was so devastated because I would go to her place
like we lived right behind her. So every day after school,
after middle school, I'd come home and I drop my
bag at home and then walk the eight steps to
grand's house and we do afternoon tea, sure, and she'd
ask me how my day was, and I'd help her.
And she had arthritis real bad in her hands, so
(07:56):
I'd help her make dinner, and you know, so that
it was just our one one time. My sisters could come,
but they just never wanted to, but right, so I
just remember having such a sense of loss when she
was gone.
Speaker 3 (08:07):
Yeah, And the problem with children is that oftentimes they
don't know any other kids who are going through the
same thing. So as grown ups, you know, we seek
out those people who can support us in our journey,
whatever that is. So, for instance, if you are a widow,
you tend to try to find other widows. If you
are divorced, you tend to connect with people who are divorced.
(08:29):
Children don't have those circles, so in essence, a child
may know nobody at school who has that situation, nobody
at their church, or nobody on the soccer field. And
so oftentimes the most common feeling of a child is
that you just feel like you're the only one who's
going through that, and that's very difficult. So we hope
to let these kids know there's other kids just like you,
(08:52):
inform those friendships so they get that support and they
get that peer to peer kind of relationship so they
don't feel like they're the only one going through that.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
Well, I think that's super important because I know having
gone through some health issues like the American Cancer Society
and different organizations. Sure do you like a peer to
peer match? So, like say you're a survivor who's gone
through a bilateral mistectomy. Someone else coming through this newly
diagnosed and going to be needing that procedure, right exactly,
(09:23):
if you're one of the volunteers, you can almost mentor
or work with that person and answer the questions they
may have because you've already experienced it. Yes, And like
I always liking it too, like when soldiers come back
and they can go to the VFW and talk with
somebody who's already been there. May have been a different war,
but the experience is very much the same. But how
(09:45):
you feel disconnected and they're trying to reconnect in society
when you get back.
Speaker 3 (09:49):
Yeah, it's just that shared experience that it makes it
easier when you're going through a traumatic time in your life,
regardless of what that is, that you have other people
who have been there before you that path for you,
so that you can see, Okay, I'm in this place
right now, But I can find a way out of it,
and here's somebody who can help me kind of be
a guide for that.
Speaker 2 (10:10):
You have events, So we have one coming up for April,
don't you we do.
Speaker 3 (10:14):
So we're going to a very interesting place. It's in
Jupiter Farms. It's called Pike's Food Forest. So Amanda Pike
is a amazing woman who has in her yard basically
so two acres and Jupiter Farms has grown a food
forest and seventy percent of the food that she puts
on her family's table every day is grown in the
(10:36):
food forest. And she's also an educator where she talks
about how you can grow your own food and use
that for everything from what you serve as a main
dish for dinner onto brownies and all sorts of interesting things.
So we're taking our kids there to learn a little
bit about how food has grown and how they can
use food that they can grow themselves. And then we're
(10:57):
doing some craft projects with some of the materials that
Amanda has out there. So we're super excited to do that.
A lot of the events that we do we like
to try to do things that kids would not otherwise experience,
so oftentimes we give them these unique experiences. So a
couple months ago, for instance, we took them out to
a place that teaches circus performers how to fly on
(11:20):
a trapeze. So our kids actually got to go up
on the trapeze and have some fun with that. So
really unique experiences with the idea again that kids just
want to have fun and connect with other kids who
are going through grief as well.
Speaker 2 (11:34):
Oh that's a fantastic thing to do though, for them
to like offer these really unique experiences. So they're sharing
their shared grief with other folks in the group, but
they're also sharing and creating a new fund memory. So
I like that correct, yes, and enhances the bonding. I think.
Speaker 3 (11:50):
Yeah, what's interesting is that what we see oftentimes is
a kid will come in and sometimes you know, kids
can be shy and they're out of their element and
they you know, are very uncomfortable. So we had a
kid come in a couple months ago six years old
lost his mom. And we have another child who's also
six years old and lost his mom. And one of
(12:12):
them's outgoing and one of them's not. And so what
happened really, which was super cool, was that the kid
who was outgoing really just kind of honed in on
our new child, who was completely out of his element,
wanted to go home, and by the end of our event,
the two of them were running around and laughing and
playing together. And now they look forward to seeing each
(12:32):
other at future events. And that's the whole idea, is
just to form those really close friendships where we don't
make the kids talk about their grief. We don't do
traditional therapy. We feel like the therapy is in just
realizing that you can have a friendship with somebody else
and if you feel the need to say, listen, i'm
feeling sad today because you know, I really miss my mom.
(12:55):
That that's okay. You're in a safe environment, but you
don't have to You can just kind of hang out
with your new friend and do something fun and realize
that you guys are kind of very much alike and
on the same journey.
Speaker 2 (13:06):
I like that, so they can just be there, correct.
I had a friend whose grandfather passed many years ago,
and I just went by and he was like, so
you don't have to be here, that's okay, I don't mind,
and just sat there, right, and we just sat there.
We didn't talk me, didn't do anything. You just sat
and then like, oh my gosh. A year later he
was like that, you know that really just helped have
(13:28):
somebody just sit in that space with me.
Speaker 1 (13:30):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (13:31):
Absolutely, And people grieve differently, and children grieve differently, and
certainly at different ages. With children, the grief is impacts
in different ways and shapes and forms, and so you know,
I'm a big advocate of therapy. I'm a big advocate
of support groups. But I think the reason that I
started Pandora's Kids years ago was there wasn't really an
(13:51):
option for children and grief just to get together and
have fun together. And so that was really where, you know,
we serve a part of the grief experience that nobody
else is serving.
Speaker 2 (14:03):
I think the kids don't realize that how many people
in their school actually have had that same experience.
Speaker 3 (14:08):
Yeah. Statistically, one in thirteen children will lose either a
parent or a sibling by the age of eighteen. So
the statistics are higher than most people think. But what's challenging,
as I said, is that children have a relatively limited
group around them, and it may just be school and
if you don't have a kid in your class, who's
(14:29):
one of that one in thirteen. Then it's really hard
to find that support that you need.
Speaker 2 (14:34):
So how do folks reach out to you? They if
they have a need? Yeah, so you know somebody.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
Sure.
Speaker 3 (14:39):
We have a website which is just Pandora's Kids dot org,
and right on the homepage is a button that says
become a PK Kid. So if you click on that button,
there's a short form that the parent or guardian would
fill out and it goes directly to us, and then
we call to talk directly to that parent or guardian
about what the situation is, what the child likes to do,
(15:00):
and how we can get them involved.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
Okay, so of course you obviously have some programs. Yes,
there's some kind of family support as well. Correct.
Speaker 3 (15:08):
Yeah, what's interesting is that we are not a drop
off organization. So for for instance, last weekend, we went
put Book golfing and some of the parents golfed as
well along with the kids. And what we find is
that the parents get to know each other as well
and they get support from each other. Then we also
do a quarterly Wine and Widows event where we welcome
(15:29):
anybody who's a widow or a widower. It is held
at somebody's house and it's just kind of a pot luck,
bring your bring a dish to pass. And what we
find there is that people are in an open forum
where they can just kind of talk and share their grief.
A lot of people are different stages of grief, and
so again it's helpful for adults to know like there's
(15:51):
somebody who's gone walk this path before me, and I'm
not alone.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
Oh very much. So I have several friends who've lost
a spouse and they have found groups that help them,
but in that initial several months worth, it's just they're
just at a loss. They don't know what to do. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (16:11):
So I lost my husband when my son was seven,
and that was in two thousand and nine, and I
can tell you from a personal experience that it's very
difficult to navigate grief on your own, much less with
a child who's also grieving. So the ability to find
people who can help and support you is really important.
(16:32):
And then in terms of grief services in our community,
it's very limited for children. This type of organization didn't
exist when I lost my husband and I had my
son in therapy, I had him going to some camps
for kids who have experienced grief, but there was no
ongoing program that allowed him just to get to know
(16:52):
other children who are grieving. And that's where this whole
organization came from. Was a need that I recognized that
I wasn't finding in this community. And I thought, well,
if I can't find it, then it's not there. So
you know, I tell people, oftentimes a path has open
to you that you don't know even exists, and I
(17:13):
took that path to found this organization. And that was
eleven years ago. So we've been serving many many children
and many many families in need, and it's been really
very neat to see how these kids form friendships and
had that support that they really need.
Speaker 2 (17:29):
Yeah, I'm sorry for your loss, but I'm always amazed,
and I'm sure you've heard this where people take what
happened to you, you see a new need, and you
actually meet that need by creating this one person makes
such a huge difference.
Speaker 3 (17:43):
Yeah, in most grass Froods charities. I mean, I've met
a lot of other people who've founded charities in this
community and it's based on a personal experience and a
need that you see that you didn't know exists. So
I have had a lot of people tell me over
the years that things happen for a reason, and I
frankly hate that state because I can say true at all.
But I do think that things happen and it provides
(18:06):
an opportunity for you to possibly see a pathway that
you didn't know existed. And so I feel like that
opened for me that I was the person, the right
person to start this and the right person to move
it forward. And I've seen, as I said, over eleven years,
many many kids who've formed these friendships. And I even
(18:27):
keep in touch with some of my very original families
who are still in touch with other kids from the
organization even though now they're in college or they've actually
graduated from college and moved on with their lives. So
these are lifelong friendships that these kids can have.
Speaker 2 (18:42):
That's fantastic, Yeah, because I know I've had some things
with the healthn people. Really happens for a reason. I'm like,
you know, the worst saying ever, But I think sometimes
when these horrific, traumatic things happen, it resets your perspective
of the world. So my show's Palm Beach Treasure cares perspective.
So one of the things that happened when I went
(19:03):
through some of the cancer treatments, was there are a huge,
huge variety of services already in existence in our community
and across the country. I didn't know about any of them,
and I was very young. People didn't think to tell me.
I had friends, good friends taking time out of their
lives to help me get a ride to treatment because
(19:24):
I couldn't drive because of what was going to happen,
you know, And it turns out there's a service that
drives you. You just need to sign up, But nobody
knew to tell me. And when I mentioned to the
doctor later, he's like, I'm so sorry. I never He's like,
you guys seem so self sufficient. It just never occurred
to me that you might need help. And if you
don't feel comfortable asking for help, you don't know who
(19:45):
to ask for help. My show's here, did like, people
know what's available in our community. You can always call
it two one one, But just why people hear about
like what you do and how it came to be
and how it can help them or a friend of theirs.
Speaker 3 (19:59):
Yeah, what's so interesting to me is that So I've
lived in South Florida, now I think thirty five years.
I own a business here, I'm very involved in the community.
I sit on boards, and so for me not to
be able to find resources for children and grief was like, what, like,
how can this not exist? And so I think oftentimes
(20:21):
about people who don't have the resources that I had
back then, who don't know the people that I knew,
who didn't have that ability to network and to you know,
find services. And so oftentimes I will have people reach
out and we talk to them, these new families, and
they're so thankful that we have this organization, but it's
(20:42):
kind of been random how they find us. And so
one of the biggest challenges we have is, just as
you said, letting people know that we exist and that
we are free to families and that we're here to serve.
And so we try to connect with as many organizations
as possible who serve children and families, because people like
Big Brothers, Big Sisters, or people like Little Smiles, these
(21:05):
are organizations that all serve children and oftentimes they can
have a grief situation. We reach out to schools, we
reach out to churches. So the many more connections that
we can make, the more children we can serve. Because
we are really hoping that we can expand and continue
to grow. We've been around, as I said, for eleven years,
(21:25):
but there's many more families. You know, Grief happens every day,
and so we just want to make sure that people
know that we are a resource and we are here
to help and we're happy to reach out to anybody
just to talk to them about what we do and
to welcome any new families as well.
Speaker 2 (21:42):
Very cool and of course obviously you do these really
amazing events. Are there opportunities for businesses to reach out
to you to set up an event or to sponsor
your services so that we continues to be free for families.
Speaker 3 (21:57):
Yeah, it's a combination of both. We've been very blessed
by a lot of the organizations that we work with
that they either donate services to us or discount them.
We were just at Adventure Golf I'll give them a
shout out in Lantana this past weekend and they were incredible.
We got rained down, unfortunately, but the kids had a
(22:18):
blast and they discounted what they did for us and said,
you know, come back because we want you here. So
any organization that serves children, you know, anywhere from as
I said, Putt putt golf onto you know Pike's Food Forest,
which is unique and different. So any place we can
go where the kids can have a unique experience we
(22:39):
always welcome. We do have business sponsorships. If somebody wants
to sponsor one of our events, we had that opportunity
as well. And again you can just go to our
website at Pandora's Kids dot org and find those that
information and if anybody feels moved to donate, we have
a donate button as well on the website, so all
of that feeds through the website.
Speaker 2 (23:00):
Yeah, I had friends in one year we did the
thing where like like if let's gip to Starbucks and
I think that's what we called it, and everybody just
picked a charity every month that we donated like five
bucks that we would have used to buy the drink. Yes,
and all throughout the year we picked different ones and
talked about always it's this one, and people like I've
never heard of them, you know, So it was very interesting,
like why people pick certain charities because obviously getting to
(23:23):
interview all these wonderful charities in our community that help folks.
I always tell people the listeners encourage them to go
out live their healthiest live, but get out there and
do things. Find a charity that resonates with you absolutely,
if it's fitness, you know, Palm Beach County Environmental, the
PBC arm folks. They're out in the natural areas our
Palm Beach County parks of all kinds of hikes, always
(23:45):
looking for volunteers to do the little one mile two
mile tour where you could be outside. You get to
introduce people to nature and the different ecosystems.
Speaker 3 (23:53):
Yeah, there's so many amazing just grasp froods charities in
Palm Beach County that people can get involved with. We
are part of this month, part of Oceana Coffee's Cup
of Kindness event. So Oceana every quarter picks three charities.
And if you go into Oceana, which their coffee is amazing,
(24:14):
I've got to say, and if you buy a cup
of coffee, they're going to ask you to put a
bean in one of the coffee cups that relate to
one of the charities. So we ask you please put
your bean in Pandora's Kids cup because the more beans
we have, the more money we raise. And it's so
wonderful of Scotty and Amy who own Oceana Coffee, to
(24:35):
do this every quarter and get back to the community.
They just opened in Lake Park. So if you're not
up into Questa where they've been for many, many years,
and you want to grab a cup of coffee at
the new Oceana Coffee Cafe in Lake Park, please do
and put your bean in the cup for Pandora's kids.
Speaker 2 (24:51):
I think that's such a fun way for people to donate.
It's fun, it's so clever. Coffee, good coffee, very good coffee. Yes. So,
and of course, like you said, they can go aline
and donate there to you as well. Yes, And if
they want to, they have a business and they want
to create a fundraising thing like this, they can certainly
reach out to you and do that as well.
Speaker 3 (25:11):
Yeah. Absolutely. We just did an event last Friday, was
a happy Hour at Park Avenue Barbecue and Dean who
owns Park Avenue has been a wonderful supporter of us.
So we had a happy hour and raised a bunch
of money just going there drinking, eating ribs, really good ribs,
really good barbecue. So we have those opportunities along the way.
(25:32):
So any businesses that we can partner with who are
willing to give back to the charity. We welcome that
as well. All of our donations. By the way, we
are not funded by any grants, We are not funded
by any national support. All of our donations, all of
our funding comes locally from local supporters and often people
who have a grief experience themselves. One of our board members,
(25:54):
who is our fundraising chair, lost his dad when he
was thirteen and he's in his seventies now, and he
calls himself the oldest Pandora's kid, and he's just so
passionate about what we do because you know, he remembers
losing his dad when he was thirteen and it was
a very impactful experience in his life which he carries
to this day into his seventies. So we welcome all
(26:16):
those people who just feel a passion for what we
do and want to support us.
Speaker 2 (26:20):
Oh, I think that's fantastic. And of course you're in
the different social media so you have what Facebook, we.
Speaker 3 (26:25):
Have Facebook and Instagram. I'm trying to master chicktok.
Speaker 2 (26:29):
But I think the kids can help you with them.
Say that right, value right, You're like, WHOA, Okay, So
fashion right.
Speaker 3 (26:39):
All of our events are also event pages on Facebook,
so if you're old school and like Facebook, you can
find those there. And then on Instagram we post a
lot of what we're doing, so you'll see some reels
and you'll see photos from our events and the kids
just having fun. Check out the goat yoga one. That
was epic, the kids doing go yoga.
Speaker 2 (26:59):
Yes, I've had some grown friends do go yoga baby goats.
It's quite a hilarious. They have like cafes now where
they are, like in one day's in Sant Augustine, it's
the Cappy bearra the little animal, Yeah, in the cafe
and I was like, okay, I want to go do
that and they're like what. I'm like, I just want
(27:19):
to have coffee with them. I don't know why.
Speaker 3 (27:20):
It's just cute. Yeah, we're always on the lookout for
those unique experiences. They are fine where the kids can say,
oh my gosh, I've never did that, but that was
really cool.
Speaker 2 (27:29):
Yeah, that'd be cool. And and the thing is just
to have fun. You don't have to be like good
at yoga by any meanings.
Speaker 3 (27:36):
So no that very little yoga gets done at the
go Yoga Experience.
Speaker 2 (27:40):
Well, I've taken some of the free yoga classes at
the Mendel Public Library because that's to offer those wonderful
community service. And one of the instructors, she's like, if
you come and you sit and you simply breathe, that
is yoga breath, you know. And it was just like
she's like, if that's all you can do, because again
with the health issues, she said, if that's all you
can do, you're doing good. Come do that. Yeah, and
(28:02):
then you can do more things and more things.
Speaker 3 (28:04):
Yeah. And animals actually in grief therapy are oftentimes used.
We did a horse event a few months ago where
the kids actually didn't ride the horses, but they learned
how to walk them and how to take care of them.
And I have never seen so many kids excited about
going and mucking a stall. All the parents were like,
could they do this at home? Could they clean up
(28:24):
their rooms? But you know, just the ability to be
with an animal like that and to had that experience
that was really cool and that was one of their
favorite events so far that we've done this year.
Speaker 2 (28:36):
The equine therapy is just amazing. There's something with the horses,
maybe because they're just so massive, but so gentle and
so you know, and they they feel the kids.
Speaker 3 (28:49):
The horses actually are the most intuitive animals for human beings,
and so that's why they're used in therapy quite a bit.
So they mirror oftentimes human emotions. So it was very
interesting to see that interaction because if the kid is
stressed out or whatever, the horse exhibits that behavior too,
so the you know, you can see very clearly how
(29:11):
the transition goes from like being stressed to like being
comfortable with the horse. And it was a lot of
it was very cool. It was a lot of fun.
Speaker 2 (29:19):
Well, and I think that is one of the cool
techniques they use because when the kids are stress obviously
the horse is stressed, and they show them how to
use the curry comb and calm the horse. Yeah, and
they're learning that self regulation for themselves without knowing they're
doing it.
Speaker 3 (29:30):
Yeah. Yes, And I'm always amazed by people who run
these organizations that is also a nonprofit and just you know,
the ability to bring in a whole group of kids.
I think we had seventeen kids, so it was a
little chaotic and to kind of corral them no pun intended,
you know, into this experience with horses. It was very
(29:52):
cool and at the end, as I said, the kids
were super excited that they had that experience.
Speaker 2 (29:57):
Well, that's a fantastic experience. So for folks who want
to participate, how do they reach out to you? Should
they call you? If they want to be a sponsor?
Should they do everything online?
Speaker 3 (30:07):
The easiest way is to go to the website, which
again is Pandora's Kids dot org. The phone number that
is on the website goes to my cell phone, so
they reach me directly if they want to call and
ask any questions and whatnot. But the easiest way, kind
of you know, twenty four to seven, whenever you want to,
is to go to the website and just fill out
that little form, and as I said, it goes directly
(30:28):
to me and my program's coordinator so that we can
contact the family and talk to them further about what
we're doing and how we can get them involved. And
we do try to really get to know every child.
So a lot of the questions we ask from the
beginning is what is your child interested in doing? Because
kids don't always want to come to a new experience. Some,
as I said, are shy, some are reluctant. They're going
(30:49):
through grief already, so to PLoP them down in a
new situation can be kind of build anxiety. So if
we know upfront this kid is really into outdoor sports
or this kid really likes art, then we know, like
we've got a program coming up where we can get
them in and something they enjoy doing and get them
engaged with the other kids as well.
Speaker 1 (31:08):
Well.
Speaker 2 (31:08):
Miss Velle. I think it's just absolutely fantastic that you're
doing such a cool thing in the community. Obviously was
very much needed and it is definitely very much appreciated,
So thank you, thank you.
Speaker 3 (31:18):
I mean, it's been such a pleasure and the journey
of a lifetime to do this and to see the
joy on these kids' faces that they've made a new
friend and they feel comfortable and they look forward to
coming every time that we do an event. So I
just welcome many families that are out there that are
struggling with grief like we can help, so please contact us.
Speaker 2 (31:38):
Of course, that's Pandora's Kids dot org. All right, thank
you so much for coming in. If you need more information,
reach out to me Palm Beach Perspective at iHeartMedia dot
com and I'm happy to fill you in on all
the details and don't forget you can always download the
shows a podcast on our iHeartRadio app. Hope everybody has
a wonderful weekend. I'm dev nep and this has been
my perspective. Remember life is good, your healthiest view, and
(32:01):
let's get out there and live it.
Speaker 1 (32:03):
Until next week, enjoy iHeart Communities, the community engagement arm
of the station, champions critical issues and causes in the
area of health and wellness, social impact, education, literacy, and
music and art. Join us next week from Palm Beach,
Treasure Coast Perspective
iHeart Communities Presents Palm Beach Treasure Coast Perspective, which Dad Nepp.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Good morning, Welcome to Palm Beach Treasure Coast Perspective. I'm
your host, Dev Nev. Thanks for spending your weekend with me.
All kinds are great things happening, and if you haven't
been yet, you want to get your tickets for this one.
It is Culture and Cocktails happening at the then and
this is their wrap up for their twentieth season. It's
called the Ultimate Musical Finale, featuring guests Rob Russell, Avery
Summers and some more special guests. You know, want to
(00:28):
miss it. It's gonna be the Ben Hotel on Monday,
April fourteenth, And to get more information, simply go to
Palm Beachculture dot com. And while you're there, you can
also sign up for their email. Like all the different
events and things are happening around town, They're happy to
put you on the list and then you be in
the know along with me. So a lot of good
stuff happening, and don't forget coming up on April ninth,
(00:49):
Dean Janek is going to be doing a thing called
measuring ocean health. So it's called measuring structural complexity in
the ocean. It's going to be presenting it at the
Saint Lucy County Aquarium. It is really cool. It's from
nine to ten am. Come out, grab a coffee, watch
it and have a little discussion afterward. For details call
them seven seven to two four six five thirty two
(01:11):
seventy one and you get your tickets and everything that way.
And of course Earth Day is coming up, so don't
want to miss the twenty first annual Saint Lucy Earth
Day Festival. It's going to be happening Saturday, April twelfth
from ten am to four pm. And of course that's
going to be the Oxbow Eco Center again, and they
have parking in different areas so you don't have to
park right there, free shuttles back and forth, mix it
(01:31):
very convenient. Ad Mission of course is free, and for
more details to give Eric a call seven seven two
for six two seventeen ninety one and I'll give you
the whole scoop on that. And of course Saint Lucie
County Libraries have all kinds of great things happening all
the time, so I've got all kinds of family fun
coming up Saturday April twelfth, it is steam Power exploring science, technology,
(01:54):
all the good stuff. Then Saturday, April nineteenth it is
Legos and more. And then we also have like book
groups and this is more for the grown ups. Thursday,
April tenth at four pm is going to be featuring Challenger,
a true story of heroism and disaster on the Edge
of Space, and that's by Adam Higginbotham, and that's gonna
(02:14):
be happening the lake Park branch as well, so you
can come out, read the book, talk about the books.
Fun fun, free discussions. I like those, and then of
course more family fun, adult fun. It's a puzzle swap
happening on Saturday, April twelfth from ten to unit the
Lakewood Park branch as well. They lot of stuff going
on this month, and of course all the other branches
do as well. You can go to Saint Lucy dot
(02:36):
co Ford Slash Library and all this stuff is there.
The fair Ones Golf Course is hosting tn T Easter
event on April twelfth, so it's a fun one. It's
from ten am to one pm, so give them a
call at seven seven two four six two eighteen forty
four and they'll tell you how to sign up. It's
a really fun family event, good boy, bring kids out
and then get introduced to golf and some fun things
(02:57):
for Easter as well. And this weekend is the fifteenth
annual Downtown West Palm Beach Arts Festival. It's back at
City Places weekend. It's definitely going to check it out.
They have all kinds of amazing artists and crafts there
for you to see. And of course our friends over
at the Cravis Center always got lots of great things happening.
So coming up it's their seventeenth Cravis on Broadway season
(03:20):
and this year they're going to be featuring The Whiz
Kimberly Kimbo Whi Twas the Night Before and this is
a Circa Sole Christmas one, so it's going to be
so cool, The Choir of Man Some Like It, Hot
MJ The Musical, and a Beautiful Noise the Neil Diamond Musical.
Definitely check that out. And of course wrapping that season,
that will be the Notebook based off of Nicholas Sparks's
(03:42):
book So Always Cool Things. You can go to Cravis
dot org to find out more about that, and while
you're there, you can also get tickets They have Fred
Armisan doing their comedy this weekend, so there's still some
tickets left for his show. Coming up on Monday. It
is their Arts Smart, Lunch and Learn series. It's at
eleven thirty am. And this one is going to be
(04:05):
posted by doctor Robert Watson about Le Miz. So the
musical is coming. It's part of the cravis On Broadway series.
So I'll be here in a few weeks. So this
is like a little precursor about that to get all
the history and information about that period in time. So
it's a lot of fun happens in the Gimmelstop Ballroom.
And then later on Monday night is the Old Crow
(04:25):
Medicine show Circle the Wagons Tour. It's a fun show,
fun show. Gotta check that out. Wednesday, April ninth is
The Simon and Garfunkels Story, and then April fourteenth to
the nineteenth is the next cravis On Broadway show. It's
The Clue, so they're doing the stage version of the
popular board game. I can't wait to see that one.
Super big fan of the you know, Colonel Mustard and
(04:47):
the library with the candlestick kind of thing. So much fun.
I can't wait to see how they do that. And
then of course April twenty second through the twenty seventh
will be Lima's rob as part of their Cravis on
Broadway series. And like I said, Easter is coming up,
so the Flagler Museum is again hosting their annual Easter
egg Hunt and that's going to be happening Saturday, April nineteenth.
The gates open at nine am and the hunt actually
(05:09):
begins at ten am. It always sells out, but it
is so cute to see how these kids hunting for
eggs is so fun, So simply go to Flagler Museum
dot uass to get your tickets and more information. And
while you're there, you can also sign up for tickets
for their annual Bluegrass in the Pavilion concert. It's going
to be happening Saturday April twenty six from three to
(05:31):
five pm. And this year it's the Cody North Show
returning for a second concert, and Authentic Unlimited will be
opening for them, so it's a wonderful show. Again. Go
to Flagler Museum dot us to get tickets and more information,
and if you like being outside, head over to Mounts
Botanical So coming up on Saturday April twenty sixth and
(05:51):
twenty seventh, they have their big spring plants out, so
bring these little wagons like the Little Kids Radio flower wagons.
Pe will bring all these things to carry their plans around.
Is so much fun of course, lots of family fun
entertainment as well the same day, and there's also gonna
be a high Biscuits show, so save questions about them.
They'll leave it there. Folks there to help you out
with that. And you can also check out the Ribbet
the exhibit to that's happening throughout the gardens. Lots of
(06:15):
cool things happening and for more information go to Mounts
dot org dot Mounts dot organ. All the details are
right there for you. Speaking of details, I want to
welcome my guests for today, I have Vowstags, founder of
Pandora's Kids. Good morning, good morning, thanks so much for
having me. Well, thanks for coming in, Miss vows. So
tell me a little bit about in the listeners about
(06:35):
Pandora's Kids. What is Pandora's Kids.
Speaker 3 (06:38):
So, Pandora's Kids is a grief organization that helps children
who have lost a loved one. So we serve basically
children from ages five all the way to eighteen. And
what we do is offer free events where our kids
just get together to do something that kids love to do.
So we go to trampoline parks, we go, ice skating,
we go, pup pup golfing, we go, we go to
(07:01):
the rapid so you name it. Anything that is kid friendly,
we do it. And all of that is free for
our families. And the idea is just putting children together
where they can do something fun and just get to
know other kids who are going through the exact same
thing that they are.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
And this is where they may have lost a parent, right.
Speaker 3 (07:21):
Yeah, it can be a parent, could also be a sibling.
Sometimes we have children who've lost somebody that they're very
close to. So sometimes, for instance, a grandparent who was
a primary caretaker of the child has passed away. So
those are the types of children we serve.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
Yeah, I remember being very young and my grandpast I
was so devastated because I would go to her place
like we lived right behind her. So every day after school,
after middle school, I'd come home and I drop my
bag at home and then walk the eight steps to
grand's house and we do afternoon tea, sure, and she'd
ask me how my day was, and I'd help her.
And she had arthritis real bad in her hands, so
(07:56):
I'd help her make dinner, and you know, so that
it was just our one one time. My sisters could come,
but they just never wanted to, but right, so I
just remember having such a sense of loss when she
was gone.
Speaker 3 (08:07):
Yeah, And the problem with children is that oftentimes they
don't know any other kids who are going through the
same thing. So as grown ups, you know, we seek
out those people who can support us in our journey,
whatever that is. So, for instance, if you are a widow,
you tend to try to find other widows. If you
are divorced, you tend to connect with people who are divorced.
(08:29):
Children don't have those circles, so in essence, a child
may know nobody at school who has that situation, nobody
at their church, or nobody on the soccer field. And
so oftentimes the most common feeling of a child is
that you just feel like you're the only one who's
going through that, and that's very difficult. So we hope
to let these kids know there's other kids just like you,
(08:52):
inform those friendships so they get that support and they
get that peer to peer kind of relationship so they
don't feel like they're the only one going through that.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
Well, I think that's super important because I know having
gone through some health issues like the American Cancer Society
and different organizations. Sure do you like a peer to
peer match? So, like say you're a survivor who's gone
through a bilateral mistectomy. Someone else coming through this newly
diagnosed and going to be needing that procedure, right exactly,
(09:23):
if you're one of the volunteers, you can almost mentor
or work with that person and answer the questions they
may have because you've already experienced it. Yes, And like
I always liking it too, like when soldiers come back
and they can go to the VFW and talk with
somebody who's already been there. May have been a different war,
but the experience is very much the same. But how
(09:45):
you feel disconnected and they're trying to reconnect in society
when you get back.
Speaker 3 (09:49):
Yeah, it's just that shared experience that it makes it
easier when you're going through a traumatic time in your life,
regardless of what that is, that you have other people
who have been there before you that path for you,
so that you can see, Okay, I'm in this place
right now, But I can find a way out of it,
and here's somebody who can help me kind of be
a guide for that.
Speaker 2 (10:10):
You have events, So we have one coming up for April,
don't you we do.
Speaker 3 (10:14):
So we're going to a very interesting place. It's in
Jupiter Farms. It's called Pike's Food Forest. So Amanda Pike
is a amazing woman who has in her yard basically
so two acres and Jupiter Farms has grown a food
forest and seventy percent of the food that she puts
on her family's table every day is grown in the
(10:36):
food forest. And she's also an educator where she talks
about how you can grow your own food and use
that for everything from what you serve as a main
dish for dinner onto brownies and all sorts of interesting things.
So we're taking our kids there to learn a little
bit about how food has grown and how they can
use food that they can grow themselves. And then we're
(10:57):
doing some craft projects with some of the materials that
Amanda has out there. So we're super excited to do that.
A lot of the events that we do we like
to try to do things that kids would not otherwise experience,
so oftentimes we give them these unique experiences. So a
couple months ago, for instance, we took them out to
a place that teaches circus performers how to fly on
(11:20):
a trapeze. So our kids actually got to go up
on the trapeze and have some fun with that. So
really unique experiences with the idea again that kids just
want to have fun and connect with other kids who
are going through grief as well.
Speaker 2 (11:34):
Oh that's a fantastic thing to do though, for them
to like offer these really unique experiences. So they're sharing
their shared grief with other folks in the group, but
they're also sharing and creating a new fund memory. So
I like that correct, yes, and enhances the bonding. I think.
Speaker 3 (11:50):
Yeah, what's interesting is that what we see oftentimes is
a kid will come in and sometimes you know, kids
can be shy and they're out of their element and
they you know, are very uncomfortable. So we had a
kid come in a couple months ago six years old
lost his mom. And we have another child who's also
six years old and lost his mom. And one of
(12:12):
them's outgoing and one of them's not. And so what
happened really, which was super cool, was that the kid
who was outgoing really just kind of honed in on
our new child, who was completely out of his element,
wanted to go home, and by the end of our event,
the two of them were running around and laughing and
playing together. And now they look forward to seeing each
(12:32):
other at future events. And that's the whole idea, is
just to form those really close friendships where we don't
make the kids talk about their grief. We don't do
traditional therapy. We feel like the therapy is in just
realizing that you can have a friendship with somebody else
and if you feel the need to say, listen, i'm
feeling sad today because you know, I really miss my mom.
(12:55):
That that's okay. You're in a safe environment, but you
don't have to You can just kind of hang out
with your new friend and do something fun and realize
that you guys are kind of very much alike and
on the same journey.
Speaker 2 (13:06):
I like that, so they can just be there, correct.
I had a friend whose grandfather passed many years ago,
and I just went by and he was like, so
you don't have to be here, that's okay, I don't mind,
and just sat there, right, and we just sat there.
We didn't talk me, didn't do anything. You just sat
and then like, oh my gosh. A year later he
was like that, you know that really just helped have
(13:28):
somebody just sit in that space with me.
Speaker 1 (13:30):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (13:31):
Absolutely, And people grieve differently, and children grieve differently, and
certainly at different ages. With children, the grief is impacts
in different ways and shapes and forms, and so you know,
I'm a big advocate of therapy. I'm a big advocate
of support groups. But I think the reason that I
started Pandora's Kids years ago was there wasn't really an
(13:51):
option for children and grief just to get together and
have fun together. And so that was really where, you know,
we serve a part of the grief experience that nobody
else is serving.
Speaker 2 (14:03):
I think the kids don't realize that how many people
in their school actually have had that same experience.
Speaker 3 (14:08):
Yeah. Statistically, one in thirteen children will lose either a
parent or a sibling by the age of eighteen. So
the statistics are higher than most people think. But what's challenging,
as I said, is that children have a relatively limited
group around them, and it may just be school and
if you don't have a kid in your class, who's
(14:29):
one of that one in thirteen. Then it's really hard
to find that support that you need.
Speaker 2 (14:34):
So how do folks reach out to you? They if
they have a need? Yeah, so you know somebody.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
Sure.
Speaker 3 (14:39):
We have a website which is just Pandora's Kids dot org,
and right on the homepage is a button that says
become a PK Kid. So if you click on that button,
there's a short form that the parent or guardian would
fill out and it goes directly to us, and then
we call to talk directly to that parent or guardian
about what the situation is, what the child likes to do,
(15:00):
and how we can get them involved.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
Okay, so of course you obviously have some programs. Yes,
there's some kind of family support as well. Correct.
Speaker 3 (15:08):
Yeah, what's interesting is that we are not a drop
off organization. So for for instance, last weekend, we went
put Book golfing and some of the parents golfed as
well along with the kids. And what we find is
that the parents get to know each other as well
and they get support from each other. Then we also
do a quarterly Wine and Widows event where we welcome
(15:29):
anybody who's a widow or a widower. It is held
at somebody's house and it's just kind of a pot luck,
bring your bring a dish to pass. And what we
find there is that people are in an open forum
where they can just kind of talk and share their grief.
A lot of people are different stages of grief, and
so again it's helpful for adults to know like there's
(15:51):
somebody who's gone walk this path before me, and I'm
not alone.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
Oh very much. So I have several friends who've lost
a spouse and they have found groups that help them,
but in that initial several months worth, it's just they're
just at a loss. They don't know what to do. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (16:11):
So I lost my husband when my son was seven,
and that was in two thousand and nine, and I
can tell you from a personal experience that it's very
difficult to navigate grief on your own, much less with
a child who's also grieving. So the ability to find
people who can help and support you is really important.
(16:32):
And then in terms of grief services in our community,
it's very limited for children. This type of organization didn't
exist when I lost my husband and I had my
son in therapy, I had him going to some camps
for kids who have experienced grief, but there was no
ongoing program that allowed him just to get to know
(16:52):
other children who are grieving. And that's where this whole
organization came from. Was a need that I recognized that
I wasn't finding in this community. And I thought, well,
if I can't find it, then it's not there. So
you know, I tell people, oftentimes a path has open
to you that you don't know even exists, and I
(17:13):
took that path to found this organization. And that was
eleven years ago. So we've been serving many many children
and many many families in need, and it's been really
very neat to see how these kids form friendships and
had that support that they really need.
Speaker 2 (17:29):
Yeah, I'm sorry for your loss, but I'm always amazed,
and I'm sure you've heard this where people take what
happened to you, you see a new need, and you
actually meet that need by creating this one person makes
such a huge difference.
Speaker 3 (17:43):
Yeah, in most grass Froods charities. I mean, I've met
a lot of other people who've founded charities in this
community and it's based on a personal experience and a
need that you see that you didn't know exists. So
I have had a lot of people tell me over
the years that things happen for a reason, and I
frankly hate that state because I can say true at all.
But I do think that things happen and it provides
(18:06):
an opportunity for you to possibly see a pathway that
you didn't know existed. And so I feel like that
opened for me that I was the person, the right
person to start this and the right person to move
it forward. And I've seen, as I said, over eleven years,
many many kids who've formed these friendships. And I even
(18:27):
keep in touch with some of my very original families
who are still in touch with other kids from the
organization even though now they're in college or they've actually
graduated from college and moved on with their lives. So
these are lifelong friendships that these kids can have.
Speaker 2 (18:42):
That's fantastic, Yeah, because I know I've had some things
with the healthn people. Really happens for a reason. I'm like,
you know, the worst saying ever, But I think sometimes
when these horrific, traumatic things happen, it resets your perspective
of the world. So my show's Palm Beach Treasure cares perspective.
So one of the things that happened when I went
(19:03):
through some of the cancer treatments, was there are a huge,
huge variety of services already in existence in our community
and across the country. I didn't know about any of them,
and I was very young. People didn't think to tell me.
I had friends, good friends taking time out of their
lives to help me get a ride to treatment because
(19:24):
I couldn't drive because of what was going to happen,
you know, And it turns out there's a service that
drives you. You just need to sign up, But nobody
knew to tell me. And when I mentioned to the
doctor later, he's like, I'm so sorry. I never He's like,
you guys seem so self sufficient. It just never occurred
to me that you might need help. And if you
don't feel comfortable asking for help, you don't know who
(19:45):
to ask for help. My show's here, did like, people
know what's available in our community. You can always call
it two one one, But just why people hear about
like what you do and how it came to be
and how it can help them or a friend of theirs.
Speaker 3 (19:59):
Yeah, what's so interesting to me is that So I've
lived in South Florida, now I think thirty five years.
I own a business here, I'm very involved in the community.
I sit on boards, and so for me not to
be able to find resources for children and grief was like, what, like,
how can this not exist? And so I think oftentimes
(20:21):
about people who don't have the resources that I had
back then, who don't know the people that I knew,
who didn't have that ability to network and to you know,
find services. And so oftentimes I will have people reach
out and we talk to them, these new families, and
they're so thankful that we have this organization, but it's
(20:42):
kind of been random how they find us. And so
one of the biggest challenges we have is, just as
you said, letting people know that we exist and that
we are free to families and that we're here to serve.
And so we try to connect with as many organizations
as possible who serve children and families, because people like
Big Brothers, Big Sisters, or people like Little Smiles, these
(21:05):
are organizations that all serve children and oftentimes they can
have a grief situation. We reach out to schools, we
reach out to churches. So the many more connections that
we can make, the more children we can serve. Because
we are really hoping that we can expand and continue
to grow. We've been around, as I said, for eleven years,
(21:25):
but there's many more families. You know, Grief happens every day,
and so we just want to make sure that people
know that we are a resource and we are here
to help and we're happy to reach out to anybody
just to talk to them about what we do and
to welcome any new families as well.
Speaker 2 (21:42):
Very cool and of course obviously you do these really
amazing events. Are there opportunities for businesses to reach out
to you to set up an event or to sponsor
your services so that we continues to be free for families.
Speaker 3 (21:57):
Yeah, it's a combination of both. We've been very blessed
by a lot of the organizations that we work with
that they either donate services to us or discount them.
We were just at Adventure Golf I'll give them a
shout out in Lantana this past weekend and they were incredible.
We got rained down, unfortunately, but the kids had a
(22:18):
blast and they discounted what they did for us and said,
you know, come back because we want you here. So
any organization that serves children, you know, anywhere from as
I said, Putt putt golf onto you know Pike's Food Forest,
which is unique and different. So any place we can
go where the kids can have a unique experience we
(22:39):
always welcome. We do have business sponsorships. If somebody wants
to sponsor one of our events, we had that opportunity
as well. And again you can just go to our
website at Pandora's Kids dot org and find those that
information and if anybody feels moved to donate, we have
a donate button as well on the website, so all
of that feeds through the website.
Speaker 2 (23:00):
Yeah, I had friends in one year we did the
thing where like like if let's gip to Starbucks and
I think that's what we called it, and everybody just
picked a charity every month that we donated like five
bucks that we would have used to buy the drink. Yes,
and all throughout the year we picked different ones and
talked about always it's this one, and people like I've
never heard of them, you know, So it was very interesting,
like why people pick certain charities because obviously getting to
(23:23):
interview all these wonderful charities in our community that help folks.
I always tell people the listeners encourage them to go
out live their healthiest live, but get out there and
do things. Find a charity that resonates with you absolutely,
if it's fitness, you know, Palm Beach County Environmental, the
PBC arm folks. They're out in the natural areas our
Palm Beach County parks of all kinds of hikes, always
(23:45):
looking for volunteers to do the little one mile two
mile tour where you could be outside. You get to
introduce people to nature and the different ecosystems.
Speaker 3 (23:53):
Yeah, there's so many amazing just grasp froods charities in
Palm Beach County that people can get involved with. We
are part of this month, part of Oceana Coffee's Cup
of Kindness event. So Oceana every quarter picks three charities.
And if you go into Oceana, which their coffee is amazing,
(24:14):
I've got to say, and if you buy a cup
of coffee, they're going to ask you to put a
bean in one of the coffee cups that relate to
one of the charities. So we ask you please put
your bean in Pandora's Kids cup because the more beans
we have, the more money we raise. And it's so
wonderful of Scotty and Amy who own Oceana Coffee, to
(24:35):
do this every quarter and get back to the community.
They just opened in Lake Park. So if you're not
up into Questa where they've been for many, many years,
and you want to grab a cup of coffee at
the new Oceana Coffee Cafe in Lake Park, please do
and put your bean in the cup for Pandora's kids.
Speaker 2 (24:51):
I think that's such a fun way for people to donate.
It's fun, it's so clever. Coffee, good coffee, very good coffee. Yes. So,
and of course, like you said, they can go aline
and donate there to you as well. Yes, And if
they want to, they have a business and they want
to create a fundraising thing like this, they can certainly
reach out to you and do that as well.
Speaker 3 (25:11):
Yeah. Absolutely. We just did an event last Friday, was
a happy Hour at Park Avenue Barbecue and Dean who
owns Park Avenue has been a wonderful supporter of us.
So we had a happy hour and raised a bunch
of money just going there drinking, eating ribs, really good ribs,
really good barbecue. So we have those opportunities along the way.
(25:32):
So any businesses that we can partner with who are
willing to give back to the charity. We welcome that
as well. All of our donations. By the way, we
are not funded by any grants, We are not funded
by any national support. All of our donations, all of
our funding comes locally from local supporters and often people
who have a grief experience themselves. One of our board members,
(25:54):
who is our fundraising chair, lost his dad when he
was thirteen and he's in his seventies now, and he
calls himself the oldest Pandora's kid, and he's just so
passionate about what we do because you know, he remembers
losing his dad when he was thirteen and it was
a very impactful experience in his life which he carries
to this day into his seventies. So we welcome all
(26:16):
those people who just feel a passion for what we
do and want to support us.
Speaker 2 (26:20):
Oh, I think that's fantastic. And of course you're in
the different social media so you have what Facebook, we.
Speaker 3 (26:25):
Have Facebook and Instagram. I'm trying to master chicktok.
Speaker 2 (26:29):
But I think the kids can help you with them.
Say that right, value right, You're like, WHOA, Okay, So
fashion right.
Speaker 3 (26:39):
All of our events are also event pages on Facebook,
so if you're old school and like Facebook, you can
find those there. And then on Instagram we post a
lot of what we're doing, so you'll see some reels
and you'll see photos from our events and the kids
just having fun. Check out the goat yoga one. That
was epic, the kids doing go yoga.
Speaker 2 (26:59):
Yes, I've had some grown friends do go yoga baby goats.
It's quite a hilarious. They have like cafes now where
they are, like in one day's in Sant Augustine, it's
the Cappy bearra the little animal, Yeah, in the cafe
and I was like, okay, I want to go do
that and they're like what. I'm like, I just want
(27:19):
to have coffee with them. I don't know why.
Speaker 3 (27:20):
It's just cute. Yeah, we're always on the lookout for
those unique experiences. They are fine where the kids can say,
oh my gosh, I've never did that, but that was
really cool.
Speaker 2 (27:29):
Yeah, that'd be cool. And and the thing is just
to have fun. You don't have to be like good
at yoga by any meanings.
Speaker 3 (27:36):
So no that very little yoga gets done at the
go Yoga Experience.
Speaker 2 (27:40):
Well, I've taken some of the free yoga classes at
the Mendel Public Library because that's to offer those wonderful
community service. And one of the instructors, she's like, if
you come and you sit and you simply breathe, that
is yoga breath, you know. And it was just like
she's like, if that's all you can do, because again
with the health issues, she said, if that's all you
can do, you're doing good. Come do that. Yeah, and
(28:02):
then you can do more things and more things.
Speaker 3 (28:04):
Yeah. And animals actually in grief therapy are oftentimes used.
We did a horse event a few months ago where
the kids actually didn't ride the horses, but they learned
how to walk them and how to take care of them.
And I have never seen so many kids excited about
going and mucking a stall. All the parents were like,
could they do this at home? Could they clean up
(28:24):
their rooms? But you know, just the ability to be
with an animal like that and to had that experience
that was really cool and that was one of their
favorite events so far that we've done this year.
Speaker 2 (28:36):
The equine therapy is just amazing. There's something with the horses,
maybe because they're just so massive, but so gentle and
so you know, and they they feel the kids.
Speaker 3 (28:49):
The horses actually are the most intuitive animals for human beings,
and so that's why they're used in therapy quite a bit.
So they mirror oftentimes human emotions. So it was very
interesting to see that interaction because if the kid is
stressed out or whatever, the horse exhibits that behavior too,
so the you know, you can see very clearly how
(29:11):
the transition goes from like being stressed to like being
comfortable with the horse. And it was a lot of
it was very cool. It was a lot of fun.
Speaker 2 (29:19):
Well, and I think that is one of the cool
techniques they use because when the kids are stress obviously
the horse is stressed, and they show them how to
use the curry comb and calm the horse. Yeah, and
they're learning that self regulation for themselves without knowing they're
doing it.
Speaker 3 (29:30):
Yeah. Yes, And I'm always amazed by people who run
these organizations that is also a nonprofit and just you know,
the ability to bring in a whole group of kids.
I think we had seventeen kids, so it was a
little chaotic and to kind of corral them no pun intended,
you know, into this experience with horses. It was very
(29:52):
cool and at the end, as I said, the kids
were super excited that they had that experience.
Speaker 2 (29:57):
Well, that's a fantastic experience. So for folks who want
to participate, how do they reach out to you? Should
they call you? If they want to be a sponsor?
Should they do everything online?
Speaker 3 (30:07):
The easiest way is to go to the website, which
again is Pandora's Kids dot org. The phone number that
is on the website goes to my cell phone, so
they reach me directly if they want to call and
ask any questions and whatnot. But the easiest way, kind
of you know, twenty four to seven, whenever you want to,
is to go to the website and just fill out
that little form, and as I said, it goes directly
(30:28):
to me and my program's coordinator so that we can
contact the family and talk to them further about what
we're doing and how we can get them involved. And
we do try to really get to know every child.
So a lot of the questions we ask from the
beginning is what is your child interested in doing? Because
kids don't always want to come to a new experience. Some,
as I said, are shy, some are reluctant. They're going
(30:49):
through grief already, so to PLoP them down in a
new situation can be kind of build anxiety. So if
we know upfront this kid is really into outdoor sports
or this kid really likes art, then we know, like
we've got a program coming up where we can get
them in and something they enjoy doing and get them
engaged with the other kids as well.
Speaker 1 (31:08):
Well.
Speaker 2 (31:08):
Miss Velle. I think it's just absolutely fantastic that you're
doing such a cool thing in the community. Obviously was
very much needed and it is definitely very much appreciated,
So thank you, thank you.
Speaker 3 (31:18):
I mean, it's been such a pleasure and the journey
of a lifetime to do this and to see the
joy on these kids' faces that they've made a new
friend and they feel comfortable and they look forward to
coming every time that we do an event. So I
just welcome many families that are out there that are
struggling with grief like we can help, so please contact us.
Speaker 2 (31:38):
Of course, that's Pandora's Kids dot org. All right, thank
you so much for coming in. If you need more information,
reach out to me Palm Beach Perspective at iHeartMedia dot
com and I'm happy to fill you in on all
the details and don't forget you can always download the
shows a podcast on our iHeartRadio app. Hope everybody has
a wonderful weekend. I'm dev nep and this has been
my perspective. Remember life is good, your healthiest view, and
(32:01):
let's get out there and live it.
Speaker 1 (32:03):
Until next week, enjoy iHeart Communities, the community engagement arm
of the station, champions critical issues and causes in the
area of health and wellness, social impact, education, literacy, and
music and art. Join us next week from Palm Beach,
Treasure Coast Perspective
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