Smile Through The Storms

My name is Deb Maxwell; single parent of 4 children.  2 son, 2 daughters.  Most times, I worked two jobs to provide.  We did not have fancy, though had what we needed.  Mid August 2013,  my youngest son, David, wanted to get a fresh start after the ending of a very long relationship (mother of his children took them to Texas to live), so he decided to move to North Carolina.  A place where he had been happy - where he and her had met.  Things did not go the way he wanted.  Unbeknown to me, he went into a very dark depression.  March 5, 2014 - my world shattered.  David had taken his live!  After months upon months of living in a fog, I finally attended a grief support.  Went a couple times.  They were amazing people though did not understand or know suicide grief.  All the unanswered questions, thoughts, feelings.  December 2014, Smile Through The Storms held it first support meeting.  2017, we started coming together twice a month.  Then with Covid, we took it virtually.  We have members across the country (a couple have joined from international locations!) that attend.  We are a peer run support where survivors know that others understand the questions and feelings.  Were one does not have to try to find the words to express - we can just about finish each other's sentences.  As one member has stated a few time, "It is a group that you never want to belong to, though extremely appreciative that they are here!"  We conduct toy drives each year for the Christmas season, donating all given to us to the local hospitals, homeless shelter and EPC - in memory of our love ones gone to soon.  There is a memorial tree planted in Eldridge Park for surviving families to have a "living warm" place to go and remember their love one.  Ornaments are made each year (per the families request and information on their love one) and hung on the tree, saying their names and "you are remembered" as they are placed on the tree.  After the season, each ornament is sent to the families; whether they are here local or across the country.  Smile Through The Storms is a bonding "family" unit - providing warmth and understanding to each other.