Kaylee from Cleveland created a creative photo memorial for Monroe and his family, to help memorialize his father who passed from COVID-19.
Kaylee worked as a B2B Energy Broker (working mostly with restaurants and small businesses) and due to a 95% loss of business as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, her position was cut. As part of our Unemployment Transition Program, Kaylee chose to complete her capstone project to by creating a memorial piece for Monroe, a family who because I said I would identified through our bereavement program. Monroe lost his father, Gerald, to COVID-19, and wanted to create a memorial to help remember and honor his father. Monroe shared photos of his father, as well as insight into his life- sharing that they are Native American and their family symbol is the turtle. Kaylee incorporated that into her project by creating a digital photo collage, inspired by a turtle’s shell. We then had the image printed and framed for the family to display.
Lessons Learned
Q. How do you feel this project affected the family or individual you helped?
I feel like having the memorial with all of the things that reminded the family of their father helped them by giving happy memories that they are able to look at when they are feeling sad.
Q. How did the project help you?
The project helped me, because I have been blessed during the pandemic and have not lost anyone because of it, it opened my eyes to what the families that have lost loved ones are going through.
Q. What advice would you give to other people who are comforting a bereaved family/individual?
The advice that I would give someone trying to comfort a bereaved family/individual, is make sure that you are taking everything they say into account. Don’t add a lot of extra things that you think you would like.
Kaylee graduated from our January 2021 Cohort.
If you or someone you know is unemployed due to Covid-19, see if our Unemployment Transition Program is right for you. Additionally, if you have lost a loved one to COVID-19 and would like to be a recipient of one of our participant’s capstone project, please look at our Bereavement Support Page to sign up.