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| By Danielle Paine Reminder Assistant Editor WILBRAHAM - The caring legacy of Wilbraham native Rick Thorpe, who died during the Sept. 11 attacks, lives on through good deeds. Most recently, his memorial fund has been used to found Rick's Place, a new facility for grieving children ages five - 12. Director Shelly Bathe Lenn is now seeking adult volunteers and families in need of support for a six-week pilot run of the program in March. "Kids don't want to stand out and don't want to be alone so a supportive setting like this can change that for them," Bathe Lenn said. "They don't have to explain to everyone in the room what it is like to lose a mom or dad or brother or sister because everyone in the room will have experienced something like that." The program will be held inside the Kid's Village building in Post Office Park and will be free for families. Volunteers to help facilitate the group are being asked to commit four hours every week for six weeks and 15 hours for training beginning March. Bathe Lenn is also the director of The Garden, a center for children and grieving teens, in Northampton. She emphasized that the need for programs like these is great in Western Massachusetts. "It is absolutely needed, just all over the place," she said. "One in twenty kids will have an experience with this before they turn 18." Participants will take part in activities, games and discussions in small groups with other children who also share the experience of losing someone close to them. "The biggest thing that I heard from the kids is that because they are with other kids, they immediately realize that they are not alone," Bathe Lenn said. "And because we are a family program the isolation that can occur is broken." For more information, call or visit Rick's Place at 35 Post Office Park, Suite 3514, Wilbraham, 348-3120. |