Welcome to the Compassionate Friends of Charlotte, NC

we are A self-help organization offering friendship, understanding, and hope to bereaved families that have experienced the death of a child.

The Compassionate Friends of Charlotte, like all TCF Chapters, is an officially chartered non-profit organization made up of other parents whose children have died. The causes and ages vary significantly but the pain and loss is the same. TCF is a non-denominational group with no religious or spiritual affiliations. All belief systems are honored and welcomed.

When a child dies, at any age, the family suffers intense pain and may feel hopeless and isolated. The Compassionate Friends provides highly personal comfort, hope, and support to every family experiencing the death of a son or a daughter, a brother or a sister, or a grandchild, and helps others better assist the grieving family.

Please accept our deepest sympathies at this time of great loss. We know that words often fail to sooth this pain. Know that we welcome you with gentle hearts and strong arms that understand, where words are not always needed, nor explanations required.

This is the home of the Compassionate Friends chapter located in Charlotte, NC. Click here to find a local chapter near you.

Our next meeting

**May 2024 Monthly Meeting Announcement**
The format of the May meeting will be the following:
On ***Tuesday, May 21, 2024, from 6 pm to 9 pm***, The Compassionate Friends of Charlotte will honor our children, stepchildren, grandchildren and siblings with:
*a spring butterfly release then;
*a delicious potluck dinner followed by;
*lively basket raffle.
Your family members, friends, and neighbors are invited to this heartwarming evening of remembrance.
All 3 events will be hosted at St. Matthews Catholic Church, where we meet monthly.
St. Matthew’s address is 8015 Ballantyne Commons Parkway, Charlotte, NC 28277.
Below are a few details about each event.
Spring butterfly release
Shortly after 6 pm, butterflies will be released at the fountain in front of the building where we meet monthly.
If you can participate in our butterfly release, ***RSVP the number of people coming with you***. An email or text is fine. Your response will determine the number of butterflies we order. The chapter will donate one butterfly per family at no cost to our members.
Delicious potluck dinner
After the butterfly release, we will gather in The Banquet Room, #102, for our potluck dinner and raffle.
***If you can attend the potluck, please bring a covered dish***, side dish, appetizer, or dessert to share. In addition to enjoying a great meal (that you didn’t have to cook), you’ll enjoy the company of other compassionate friends in our Charlotte Chapter.
Basket raffle
Funds raised through our basket raffle stay in our Charlotte chapter and enable the chapter to hold events such as the candle lighting event, butterfly release and refreshments provided during meetings.
If you can curate, and donate a basket, please do. Baskets of all sizes and themes are welcome.
Popular basket themes include coffee, wine, pets, gardening, sports, etc. Gift cards from restaurants, nail salons, local attractions, or retail stores also make great baskets. Let your imagination, generosity, and compassion be your guide!
***If you can curate, and donate a basket, please let me know by May 14th. Please respond to fletcher1mom@gmail.com.***

What to expect

Our meetings should not be confused with counseling sessions. Participants are all bereaved parents, grandparents or adult siblings who are dealing with the death of a child. We have been where you are and we continue to return to offer friendship and support through the natural grieving process after a child dies.

More than 17,000 bereaved parents, siblings, and grandparents in need of support attend TCF meetings in the United States every month. You will find it is so very true what we often say, You Need Not Walk Alone.

Learn More

About TCF

The Compassionate Friends (TCF) is an international organization with over 600 local chapters across the United States. It was founded in Coventry, England, in 1969, by Rev. Simon Stephens. When two young boys died within days of each other, Rev. Stephens brought the parents of these children together in hopes they could best support and understand each other through this painful loss. TCF's longevity is a testament to this form of parents helping parents.

Located in Oak Brook, Illinois, the national TCF organization provides additional support beyond the local chapters. Be sure to check out their website www.compassionatefriends.org where you will find:

Over 600 US Chapters
Internet chat rooms grouped by gender or circumstance
Information on the Annual National Conference
Quarterly Magazine
Brochures for parents, siblings, co-workers, funeral directors, etc.
Links to other grief related websites
Recommended books and other materialsThere are no dues or fees and all adult bereaved family members are welcome.

TCF exists to support and assist bereaved parents, adult siblings and other family members in the positive resolution of their grief, and to foster their physical and emotional health.

Monthly chapter meetings offer friendship and a caring and safe place to talk. We offer monthly newsletters and caring friends to share with telephone support.

THE COMPASSIONATE FRIENDS CREDO

We need not walk alone. We are The Compassionate Friends.

We reach out to each other with love, with understanding, and with hope. The children we mourn have died at all ages and from many different causes, but our love for them unites us.Your pain becomes my pain, just as your hope becomes my hope.

We come together from all walks of life, from many different circumstances. We are a unique family because we represent many races, creeds, and relationships. We are young, and we are old. Some of us are far along in our grief, but others still feel a grief so fresh and so intensely painful that they feel helpless and see no hope.

Some of us have found our faith to be a source of strength, while some of us are struggling to find answers. Some of us are angry, filled with guilt or in deep depression, while others radiate an inner peace. But whatever pain we bring to this gathering of The Compassionate Friends, it is pain we will share, just as we share with each other our love for the children who have died.

We are all seeking and struggling to build a future for ourselves, but we are committed to building a future together. We reach out to each other in love to share the pain as well as the joy, share the anger as well as the peace, share the faith as well as the doubts, and help each other to grieve as well as to grown.

We need not walk alone. We are The Compassionate Friends.

SIBLINGS WALKING TOGETHER

We are the surviving siblings of The Compassionate Friends. We are brought together by the deaths of our brothers and sisters. Open your hearts to us, but have patience with us.
Sometimes we will need the support of our friends. At other times we need our families to be there.
Sometimes we must walk alone, taking our memories with us, continuing to become the individuals we want to be.
We cannot be our dead brother or sister; however, a special part of them lives on with us. When our brothers and sisters died, our lives changed.
We are living a life very different from what we envisioned, and we feel the responsibility to be strong even when we feel weak. Yet we can go on because we understand better than many others
the value of family and the precious gift of life.
Our goal is not to be the forgotten mourners that we sometimes are, but to walk together to face our tomorrows as surviving siblings of The Compassionate Friends.