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'Rick's Place' moves into permanent home

Date: 9/28/2010

Sept. 27, 2010

By Chris Maza

Reminder Assistant Editor

WILBRAHAM -- Rick's Place, Inc., finally has a place to call its own.

After spending the past three years in a common room at 35 Post Office Park, the organization that helps grieving children and families now has its own place in the building.

"We started out here in March of 2007 and now this summer we got our own space," said Sherry Bathe Lenn.

Within that space, she hopes to create a comfortable atmosphere where families that have lost a parent or someone else close to them can feel comfortable and experience a more successful healing process.

Rick's Place is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization named in honor of Rick Thorpe, who tragically lost his life during the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack at the World Trade Center. This year, the program is expecting 10 new families to join the nine returning families.

The room, with burnt orange walls, carpeted floors and a small bookshelf with books designed to help those of all ages who are grieving, is still unfurnished, but Bathe Lenn already sees it as a welcoming place.

"It kind of grounds us a little bit," Bathe Lenn said at the organization's recent open house to show off the new space.

Still, Bathe Lenn said furnishing the space is the next task that needs to be accomplished in order to make the room comfortable.

"Outfitting the space is a priority," Bathe Lenn said. "We open Oct. 5 and we'd really like to have a comfortable seating area so we can have a group in here."

Seating is just one of the things still on Rick's Place's "wish list," which hung on the wall during the open house. The list of things still needed includes lamps, two end tables and a coffee table, one child-size table and two-to-four chairs, a table for more display space, stackable chairs and a coat rack. The organization also would like to have a laptop, ink cartridges and printer paper for the office.

Bathe Lenn is not overly concerned with being able to acquire some of these things because the success of the program has been due to the generosity of many in the community.

"We have an annual fundraiser called Heart to Heart and in February of 2010, we doubled our income from the year before," Bathe Lenn said. "We live in a very giving community and I just can't say enough."

Glen Garvey, who owns the property, as well as neighbors Pediatric Services of Springfield and Bay State Dental, also lent support for the program. Bay State Dental has donated supplies, such as a printer, a copier and a fax for the office, while Pediatric Services helped fix up the space so it was more suitable for Rick's Place's needs.

Rick's Place offers school-based support groups for students and trains school personnel and councilors, but on-site programs are the heart of Rick's Place's services. Rick's Place offers 15-week, family oriented sessions designed to help families cope with loss.

"Statistics from the Centers [for] Disease Control state that one out of 20 kids will experience the death of someone close at some point in their life," Bathe Lenn said. "There is research that shows if kids don't get support right from the get go, it can lead to self-harming behaviors and severe and persistent depression later in life."

Having a space to call its own is especially important for Rick's Place because it is one of the two programs of its kind in th Pioneer Valley. Both are run by Bathe Lenn.

"Just in Western Massachusetts alone, there's the Gardens in Northampton and Rick's Place in Wilbraham," Bathe Lenn said. "So there aren't any standalone community programs working with children."

For more information on Rick's Place, visit www.ricksplacema.org or call 348-3120. Those interested in taking advantage of Rick's Place's services will undergo a screening process to determine if it is the right program for them.



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