Founders of Nico’s Promise: A Journey of Hope and Healing, a bereavement program at Nicklaus Children’s Hospital, presented the hospital with a $1 million check this week, after reaching an endowment goal to fund ongoing support services for grieving families.

Nico’s Promise offers assistance to parents, siblings, grandparents and other family members who have experienced the loss of a loved one. The services of Nico’s Promise are available without charge and provide affected families the opportunity to celebrate the life of their child and rediscover their inner strength, honoring the child by resuming productive, meaningful and even joy-filled lives.

“We are forever grateful for Nico’s Promise and its commitment to Nicklaus Children’s Hospital,” said Matthew A. Love, president and CEO of Nicklaus Children’s Health System. “When a family experiences the loss of a child, this remarkable organization helps us provide the loving support and ongoing counseling that is so essential in helping the family find a path forward.” 

Since the inception of Nico’s Promise in 2012, the organization has provided individual counseling sessions for family members, as well as countless support groups for parents and grandparents, family counseling sessions and celebrations of life.

Program founder Carolina Hernandez saw the need for an ongoing bereavement program and support groups during her son’s time at Nicklaus Children’s Hospital. “While Nico was hospitalized, we saw other families who were struggling to navigate the anguish of their new normal, all alone, with no support system,” she said. “It was our journey, and those of the grieving families we met, that inspired Nico's Promise: A Journey of Hope and Healing to become what it is today.”

To learn more about Nico’s Promise and to donate to the bereavement program at Nicklaus Children’s Hospital, visit give.nicklauschildrens.org/nicospromise.