Mission and Vision | Founder's Scrapbook | Founder's Message
Mission
The mission of ACH is to meet bereaved children and families wherever they are in their grief and fulfill their needs in a caring and knowledgeable environment through services to help them with their emotional journey and financial assistance to aid their future education.
The vision of ACH is to help bereaved children and family members cope with the death of a significant person. This is accomplished with a comprehensive program of counseling, support, financial assistance for education, research, consultation, and crisis response.
Our bereavement center provides a variety of comprehensive services for children age 3-18 and their caregivers. In addition we offer consultation and assistance to professionals and organizations in the community on issues related to grief and bereavement.
Educational Grants
To date, ACH has provided financial assistance for educational opportunities to well over a dozen children in the New York tri-state area. Educational grants are awarded to children and teens from pre-school to graduate school. Education helps shape our children and prepare them to be our leaders. Without giving children the opportunity to obtain a quality education, we are jeopardizing our children's future. When a caregiver dies, we do not want a child to also lose the opportunity to continue with their education. If your child qualifies for funding or you know of a child that may qualify, please click here to view the criteria and application and to read stories from previous grantees.
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Founders Scrapbook
Each link brings you to a past message from the founder.
Original Founder's Letter
About Billy Esposito
Message from the Founder, Fall 2006
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Founder’s Message
Dear Family and Friends,
This has been an exciting year for A Caring Hand, The Billy Esposito Foundation (ACH). Thanks to the dedication and generosity of people like you, our dream of opening a bereavement center has come true. We opened and operate the only freestanding, comprehensive bereavement center in New York City: A Caring Hand, The Billy Esposito Bereavement Center. At the Center, children, teens, caregivers, teachers and professionals discover and learn healthy ways of dealing with grief by focusing on remembering, coping and community building. The feedback from the graduates of the Bereavement Center’s first eight week session has been so positive they have come back for our monthly meetings to stay connected to their new friends.
ACH held its sixth annual fundraising gala, Handing Our Children A Brighter Future, on Thursday, May 1, 2008 at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City. The evening was a resounding success and ACH was able to raise funds to support the Bereavement Center’s programs and sponsor educational scholarships. ACH has awarded over $200,000 in educational scholarships and grants to bereavement centers over the past six years helping a significant number of children and families. After the success of our inaugural group program at the Bereavement Center in Spring of 2008, plans are already under way to double the number of children and families seen this year.
With your support and commitment, ACH continues to advance its goal to help children manage the pain of their past and find joy to take them into the future. I look forward to the continuation of this successful year and the valuable work we will do with your help in 2009. We hope to see you at our seventh annual gala on April 30, 2009. Please mark your calendar.
Sincerely,
Susan Esposito-Lombardo
Founder and President
Pictured from left to right: Vincent Lupo, Rocky Lombardo, President and Founder of ACH Susan Esposito-Lombardo, Board Member Stevie Esposito and Courage Award Recipient Jane Oster.
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