Hope for Widows Foundation

02/15/2025

“I journal every day. I have been talking to him through my writing and in my head. I speak to him through the pictures I have around the house. I watch videos of him, yet, it’s barely been a year and I feel like he is slipping away from me already.

But at the same time, he isn’t. I guess this is part of the grief journey as well. The fear of forgetting.

I look back on our happy times, on the times when I used to drive down to Portugal for a few days. When you used to drive up to me and send me a text message saying, “40k”. I would be so nervous, so excited, so dying to see you! But that seems so far away, it is behind the entangled mesh of the horror of the last two years. I really have to fight through it to remember all the happiness, the joy, the fun times we had together.”

HforW Community Blogger and Hope Sister,Carmen Medina, writes her latest blog here: https://hopeforwidows.org/2025/02/reflections-reflexiones/

I journal every day. I have been talking to him through my writing and in my head. I speak to him through the pictures I have around the house. I watch videos of him, yet, it’s barely been a year …

02/13/2025

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02/13/2025

We’re growing, and it’s so exciting! 🎉 If you’re passionate about making a difference and want to be part of our nonprofit mission, we’d love to hear from you.
Reach out to learn more! 💙
📧 Email: [email protected]

02/12/2025

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02/11/2025

“I loved Valentine’s Day when I was a kid. At school, everything would be decorated in pretty pinks and reds, with little hearts everywhere. Oh and chocolate. Did I mention that there was chocolate?

We’d get to knock off school work early, make strawberry floats with vanilla ice cream and strawberry soda, and have one of those fun little class parties from days gone by.

I knew it wasn’t a holiday-holiday, but it was still fun.

Fast-forward to being a grown-up, and Valentine’s Day wasn’t always the most fun, particularly for my late husband Bret. He had previously married on that date, and I had once gotten engaged on the date, so he refused to celebrate it.

We “joked” that we preferred February 15th because of all the half-priced candies remaining on the store shelves. A bit ironic considering he was adamantly against candy and most sweets. (Yet he would always eat whatever I managed to bring home.)”

HforW Community Blogger and Hope Sister, Layla Beth Munk(The_Snarky_Widow, Instagram ,Twitter@laylabeth, laylabethmunk.medium.com
and her debut novella, 24 Hours in Vegas, is available on Amazon), writes her latest blog here: https://hopeforwidows.org/2025/02/taking-back-valentines-day/

I loved Valentine’s Day when I was a kid. At school, everything would be decorated in pretty pinks and reds, with little hearts everywhere. Oh and chocolate. Did I mention that there was chocolate? We’d get to knock off school …

02/10/2025

Hope for Widows Foundation continues to expand the Hope Hero monthly program, an extraordinary community of donors embracing hope and healing every month into the lives of widowed women and their children. We are humbled by the generosity of donors contributing consistently. Do you want or know someone that wants to assist the widow community?

$10/month- you can empower, inspire, and bring hope and support to the community of 13 million widows in the United States and approximately 800,000 widowed annually (most under the age of 55).

$25/month- you can sponsor several widows through our Hearts of Hope program, where they receive free monthly self-care sunshine packages. Each shipment is wrapped with love and is filled with self-care products to encourage widows to smile and care for themselves during their journey when they are re-engaging in life.

$50/month level- you can sponsor several widows and their children through the Bring Hope Holiday Program, which assists a widow’s family who cannot provide gifts for her children or other necessities during the holiday season.

$100/month level -you can sponsor several widows through our annual Restoring Hope and Peace financial grant program where assistance is provided directly for housing payments, funeral expenses, taxes, necessity bills, groceries, car repairs, medical expenses, and/or care related to their children.

To become a Hope Hero or if you know someone/organization that might be interested, go here: https://hopeforwidows.org/hope-hero/

Link in Bio

Change Lives. Bring Peace. Bring Hope. Bring Healing. 💜

02/10/2025

So true …..

02/08/2025

“I didn’t want to change. I liked my life as it was. A work of architecture of the heart. Carefully built love and relationships, forged together into a thing of beauty. Until the tidal wave came. It really doesn’t matter how beautiful your sand castle is or how long it took you to build it when a giant wave crashes through. All that remains are a few sand blobs and a couple disheveled sea shells that were once carefully placed decorations. And so it is with losing your spouse. I loved being in love with my husband and the wonderful love story we were given. I loved welcoming children into our loving home and feeling like a real family. I loved who I was then. Giddy, secure, filled with hope and optimism, and resting in the knowledge that I was unconditionally loved and cherished by my husband knowing everything in life we could face together as a team.

I didn’t want grief and loss to change me permanently. I didn’t request for my heart to be smashed into a million pieces. I never wanted to look back at the photos of the happiest times in my life and not even recognize myself because I don’t feel like her anymore. I don’t even look like her anymore. She had a sincere smile and a twinkle in her eye and oozed genuine happiness. My photos now often involve a forced a smile a tight jaw and my eyes reflect the pain of loss. Genuine happiness seems to be a thing of the past…”

HforW Community Blogger and Hope Sister, Dorothy Swanson, writes her latest blog here: https://hopeforwidows.org/2025/02/i-didnt-want-to-change/

I didn’t want to change. I liked my life as it was. A work of architecture of the heart. Carefully built love and relationships, forged together into a thing of beauty. Until the tidal wave came. It really doesn’t matter how beautiful your sand castle is or how long it took you to build it when ...

02/06/2025

Truth!

02/04/2025

“I’m just coming out of another rough week! Just when I thought I was doing so well, I find myself back in the depths of sorrow. A friend says it might have been triggered by the wonderful time on the beach. The realization of coming back to an empty home, again! In any case, for a year now, numbness has been my companion. I have wandered through days, trying to find a semblance of normalcy, but it has always felt like trial and error. The search for meaning seems endless, and anger often takes hold of me. Weariness settles in, and hope feels like a distant memory.

Amid this emotional turmoil, I am now aware that grief is not a linear journey. It is a winding path with unexpected turns and setbacks. Each day brings a new challenge, and sometimes, it feels like I am taking two steps back for every step forward. But even in the darkest moments, there are glimpses of light: my family, my friends, a happy memory, a new challenge…”

HforW Community Blogger and Hope Sister, Carmen Medina, writes her latest blog here: https://hopeforwidows.org/2025/02/what-is-there-beyond-grief-and-loss/

I’m just coming out of another rough week! Just when I thought I was doing so well, I find myself back in the depths of sorrow. A friend says it might have been triggered by the wonderful time on the …

02/03/2025

Truth! Self-care is definitely important during these times.

02/01/2025

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01/31/2025

Truth!

01/29/2025

So true….

01/26/2025

“Seven years. Seven years ago today you changed my life forever. I wouldn’t trade a second of any of it even if the outcome was the same. Not the hard moments and not the sad moments, all of them meant that I had you who loved me fully and beautifully with all of your being.

Seven years. It would’ve been seven years together today. I still remember meeting you in the restaurant in your pink hoodie and pink beanie and the brown leather jacket that you looked so hot in. I had chicken tenders and you had street tacos. Afterwards, we went and looked at the ice sculptures and saw the ice castles. Just like in Mighty Ducks. So much of our big moments revolved around 80s and 90s movies. That was so us.

After you died, I found lyrics to a song that you wrote in your bag that you titled Ice Castles. It was a moment that changed our lives forever. 1.26.18…”

HforW Community Blogger and Hope Sister, Cassie Dockter-Reeves,(Personal Blog: http://docartemis.blogspot.com/?m=1 and Instagram ), writes her latest blog here: https://hopeforwidows.org/2025/01/ice-castles/

Seven years. Seven years ago today you changed my life forever. I wouldn’t trade a second of any of it even if the outcome was the same. Not the hard moments and not the sad moments, all of them meant …