Our Story
One Woman’s compassion for the hurting, her personal experience with grief, and an innate ability to dream were the first seeds of New Hope.
In 1986 Susan was a nurse on the cancer-leukemia ward at Long Beach Veterans Hospital. Each time her precious patients died, Susan was exposed to grief and loss as she witnessed the families in despair. At the time resources for her grieving families were minimal in Long Beach. A heavy burden was laid on Susan’s heart to support these grieving families and pursue a greater understanding of grief education and helpful support.
Continued studies led her to author a Journey of Hope handbook in 1987 as a means of survival for the grieving adult. Not satisfied that a book was enough, Susan developed grief support programs for the community and began offering them at night after work. She offered groups in the community for the next 14 years.
As a result of seeing the value and endless opportunities through such groups, Sue left her full-time job as a nurse in 1999 to develop New Hope Grief Support Community as a nonprofit organization. Since then programs have been created for children, teens, adults, and parents.
In 2003, New Hope also began offering Kid’s Camps in Long Beach, a unique weekend experience for children and teens. Wanting to grow and be able to help more grieving people, New Hope retired Kids Camp in 2010 to make way for helping the entire grieving family.
In 2011, New Hope launched its first Family Camp at Camp Ronald McDonald for Good Times in Idyllwild, CA. It’s a place for families to get the grief support they need.Today New Hope continues expanding and making developments to deliver better help and support to more grieving people. We continue to fulfill our mission of helping grieving people find hope and healing, through grief support groups for all ages, family camps, seminars, trainings, literature, and events.
Our Mission:
New Hope’s mission is to help grieving people find hope and healing.
Our Vision:
To be the grief organization that best understands and satisfies the needs of everyone who has suffered the loss of a loved one.
Our Values:
Relational: We value the relationships that we have with our community, our partners, each other, and those we serve. We believe that our relationships with others are the most valuable resource we have. The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt with the heart –Helen Keller–
Compassion: One of our greatest assets is our ability to care for the grieving in a very caring & tangible way. Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.
Diversity: We recognize our community partners and the people we serve come from all walks of life. We believe our commitment to diversity helps us to promote and celebrate individual and collective achievement.
Commitment: We value commitment—to our mission, vision, staff, volunteers, community, and to the grieving people that we serve.