Foundation helps children and teens process grief after the loss of a loved one

Montreal's Myra's Kids Foundation provides year-round support programs for young people dealing with grief and loss.

Jessica Sinyor lost her husband, Ben, to cancer five years ago in the midst of the COVID-19 lockdown.

She thinks of him every day.

“We found out that he had stage four renal cell carcinoma, and in doing my research I discovered that the chances of survival were quite slim,” she said. “I sought support. My children were two, four and six at the time.”

Her three children were too young to process the loss, and Myra’s Kids Foundation became a lifeline for the family.

The organization runs year-round grief support programs for free. It’s for children and teens from six to 17 years old and their families, and is run by volunteers.

Sinyor says it was important that she helped her children deal with their loss.

“I’m raising my kids to be emotionally intelligent, to have the awareness to talk about their grief and not bottle up their emotions,” she says.

Having a healthy outlet and support system is exactly why Jon Reider founded the foundation nine years ago. The organization was named after his mother.

“My mom died when I was three years old, and in the early 1960s, when that tragedy befell to me, there was no support network,” Reider told CTV News.

His goal was to ensure future generations had a safe space to honour loved ones, and that includes three camps a year. A lot of the activities involve paying tribute, Reider explained.

“We have a memory board where everybody brings a picture and they introduce us to their special person. We have on the last night of camp, a lantern ceremony where the children have decorated lanterns and they send a special message to their special person,” he said.

Sinyor’s nine-year-old daughter, Victoria, enjoyed the summer camp.

“Everyone has a similar story, and it’s nice to all be together there,” she said.

Reider said the support the children receive is very special, and their shared experience brings them together.

“The minute they step onto the bus to go to camp, they turn to each other, and they say, ‘Who died in your family?’” he said. “Something that you could never do walking into school, or feel comfortable doing something like that, so it’s really something very special.”

The Sinyors say they’ve formed a second family through the foundation, with the children’s mother calling it “an unspoken bond.”

The organization has made a difference for many, and Reider was awarded the King Charles Coronation medal.

“It was very, very meaningful. I was very humbled by it. My mom would be exceptionally proud,” he says.