Profile #20 - Pam Dinneen

We could not celebrate this milestone year without acknowledging the spark that started it all. To know Mourning Hope is to witness the immense passion and remarkable dedication of its founder, Pam Dinneen.

For nearly 30 years, Pam worked as a public school educator and counselor in Nebraska. While serving on the Lincoln Public School crisis team, she became acutely aware of the need for more extensive services for grieving children, teens and their families. What followed next was a decades-long mission to show the bereaved in our community that they are not alone in their grief.

"We developed a board of directors, created a 501(c)(3), and had our first grief support group of teens and their caregivers in September of 1994. From there it just kept on growing. Participants requested services for the rest of their family members of various ages. We trained more volunteers to help us companion, and the rest is history."

The "history" is a bit more nuanced than that. Now a member of the board of directors, a compassionate and engaged volunteer and a consultant for all aspects of Mourning Hope, people only realize a portion of the many ways Pam influences the growth of Mourning Hope and the field itself.

"I think the most impactful piece is seeing how families enter our doors as strangers; scared, hurting and hesitant. It is often within the very first night that participants begin making connections because they hear someone else say what they have been feeling and realize they are not alone on this difficult journey. By the end of the night, there is chatter, laughter and even hugs. They come to trust us with the most difficult experiences they have had in their lives and it is such an honor to walk with them through it."

Pam's daily actions reflect a conscious choice to give, to help, to share and to love. Her dream has truly become a reality.