The
Compassionate
Friends
Oneonta Region Chapter
Supporting Family After a Child Dies
Important TCF News & Events
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Please join us on Sunday, December 8 from 6:30pm - 8:30pm
as we join other chapters worldwide to observe
the TCF Worldwide Candle Lighting.
This special ceremony will be held in person at the UUSO Church
located at 12 Ford Avenue in Oneonta, New York.
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The WCL gives bereaved families everywhere the opportunity to remember their children, grandchildren, and siblings so
"...that their light may always shine."
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For more information, visit our December Candle Lighting Page located under the drop down menu above, labeled MORE.
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Please note:
There will NOT be a sharing session on the third Thursday in December. The next sharing session will be held via Zoom on January 16, 2025.
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Who we are...
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The Compassionate Friends is a national nonprofit, self-help support organization that offers friendship and understanding to families who are grieving the death of a child, grandchild or sibling of any age, from any cause. The pain one experiences from the death of a child can best be understood fully by someone who has experienced a similar loss.
TCF was founded in 1969. There is no religious affiliation. We are non-sectarian and multicultural. There are no membership fees or dues, and all bereaved family members are welcome. TCF is a non-denominational, self-help support group composed entirely of family members who have lost a child, grandchild, or sibling.
Our Oneonta, New York, TCF Chapter was founded in 1995 and all of the members of our Steering Committee are volunteers. We currently meet via Zoom from 7:00 to 8:30PM on the third Thursday of every month. Occasionally, we hold in person meetings in the Dauley Room of the First United Methodist Church at 66 Chestnut Street in Oneonta, New York.
TCF provides an opportunity to honor our children by sharing memories and feelings with others who truly understand. Our sharing sessions are attended by individuals who have experienced a recent loss, and those who have been on a much longer grief journey. Sometimes parents who are farther along in their grief are able to share memories of things they did to help navigate the most difficult loss a human being may ever experience. There is no professional staff, just parents who have lost a child.
We invite you to join us to a sharing session. If you have questions or would like more information, please feel free to contact us.
The Compassionate Friends
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 grow. We Need Not Walk Alone. We Are The Compassionate Friends.
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