Imagine, A Center for Coping with Loss was one of 14 organizations to receive a major donation from PSEG and PSEG Foundation this week to help families and individuals who are struggling due to COVID-19. At Imagine, this unrestricted $100,000 donation will help ensure that those in hard-hit areas of New Jersey get the grief support and education they need.

“We are so grateful for PSEG’s grant,” said Mary Robinson, Imagine’s executive director and founder. “The Imagine staff and our amazing volunteers are passionate about supporting families coping with traumatic loss and life-altering situations. There is a pandemic of grief right now and the need is so great.”

Imagine, based in Mountainside and Newark, provides grief education and free grief support for children, young adults, and their families for as long as is needed. In March 2020, it began offering these programs online. This year, it welcomed more than 50 new families into these virtual groups.

In response to the increased need for training that has come out of the pandemic, four New Jersey school districts recently signed on to become grief-informed through Imagine. This will ensure that the more than 36,000 students in these districts have access to an adult who knows how to help when they experience losses ranging from death to divorce and incarceration.

“It is our privilege to be able to support community organizations that are providing much-needed assistance to countless families and communities who are facing enormous hardships because of the coronavirus pandemic,” said Rick Thigpen, PSEG’s senior vice president for Corporate Citizenship and chairman of the PSEG Foundation. “In the spirit of the season, we’re proud to make these Community Gifts on behalf of our employees across New Jersey and New York, and support these organizations that are helping to make things better for people throughout the many diverse communities we serve.”

As Imagine heads into a new year and another wave of need due to COVID-19, it is well equipped to respond to the losses in communities throughout New Jersey thanks to the generous support of PSEG and PSEG Foundation.

Imagine, A Center for Coping with Loss is a New Jersey-based grief support center for children, young adults and families dealing with the death or life-altering illness of a parent, sibling or child. In addition to its peer grief support programs, Imagine provides training through education and outreach programs across the state to a variety of organizations including schools, houses of worship and corporations. Its goal is to create communities where grief and loss are transformed into resilience, empathy and compassion, and where no child grieves alone. For more information or for grief support please visit our website at imaginenj.org.