From the Perspective of Chicago Semester Social Work Students

From the Perspective of Chicago Semester Social Work Students

Sunday, October 23, 2011

The Tears Foundation, Sarah Tow

Ohhh, it’s been a while! I was not born to be a blogger, haha! Chicago has been busy, and so have I. I’ve been spending a lot of time at my internship and getting to know the city more and more. I’ve been thinking about my next blog for weeks now, but I’m finally writing it.

A few weeks ago my supervisor was told about a new organization (or at least new to IL). It’s called The Tears Foundation. It’s actually pretty interesting. The Tears Foundation is a non-profit organization that aims to help parents with the financial expenses that they face when making arrangements for their baby that has died. They also provide bereavement support for the parents.

This organization was started in 2002, by Sarah Slack. She and her husband had experienced a stillbirth with their son, and she took her tragedy and turned it into something good. The Tears Foundation has received two awards: Award for Innovation in Service (Non-Profit Excellence Awards), and the Pay It Forward Award (Principal Global Financial). It seems like a great up-and-coming organization.

My internship has been great! I love everything about it, and I can definitely see myself continuing this in the future. I think my favorite part is spending time with the patients. I’ve noticed that they all have different support systems. Some have parents with them all of the time. Others have someone with them in either the mornings or evenings. And then there are some that are alone the whole time. I’ve also noticed that if a child is in foster care, they don’t usually have anyone come visit them. I like to target these kids and spend a little extra time with them.


We’ve had a few field trips this semester. Our Metro II class went to the Jane Addams Hull House Museum one afternoon. It was very interesting learning about the work that Jane and her colleagues were a part of, and the difference they made.

I also went to see the movie, The Interrupters. I really enjoyed it. It’s a movie about Violence Interrupters of Chicago that try to keep the communities safe from violence. Each of the three Violence Interrupters that they follow used to be involved in the violence that they are now trying to end. It was a very interesting movie, and I would definitely recommend seeing it.

Well, that’s it for now! Until the next post!

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