Welcome To The Compassionate Friends
Wenatchee Valley Chapter

We are deeply sorry for the loss that brought you to us, but you need not walk alone.

Our Mission

The mission of The Compassionate Friends: 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.

The Compassionate Friends is an international organization that supports families grieving the death of a child with over 660 chapters around the nation. Chapters can also be found in over 30 countries around the world. It is a national, nonprofit, self-help support organization which offers friendship and understanding to families who are grieving the death of a child of any age, from any cause. Our purpose is to assist families toward the positive resolution of grief following the death of a child and to provide information to help others be supportive. The Compassionate Friends (TCF) Wenatchee Valley Chapter was chartered on August 1, 2006 to serve the greater Wenatchee Valley and North Central Washington.

There is no religious affiliation and there are no membership fees or dues, and all bereaved family members are welcome.

The secret of TCF's success is simple: As seasoned grievers reach out to the newly bereaved, energy that has been directed inward begins to flow outward and both are helped to heal.

                                                                                                                 Sharing Meeting Locations and Times                                                              

Third Monday of each month at 7:00 p.m.

Grace Lutheran Church
1408 Washington Street
Wenatchee, WA 98801

Chapter phone: (509)860-3620 or contact us here.

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 grow. We Need Not Walk Alone. We Are The Compassionate Friends.
©2007 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.
©The Compassionate Friends

Your Compassionate Friend

I can tell from that look, friend that you need to talk,
So come, take my hand and let’s go for a walk.
See, I’m not like the others, I won’t shy away,
Because I want to hear what you’ve got to say.

Your child has died and you need to be heard,
But they don’t want to hear a single word.
They tell you your child’s “with God” so be strong.
They say all the “right” things that somehow sound wrong.

They’re just hurting for you and trying to say,
They’d give anything to help take your pain away.
But they’re struggling with feelings they can't understand
So forgive them for not offering a helping hand.

I’ll walk in your shoes for more than a mile.
I’ll wait while you cry and be glad if you smile.
I won’t criticize you or judge you or scorn,
I’ll just stay and listen ‘til your night turns to morn.

Yes, the journey is hard and unbearably long,
And I know that you think that you’re not quite that strong.
So just take my hand, ‘cause I’ve got time to spare,
And I know how it hurts friend, for I have been there.

See, I owe a debt you can help me repay
For not long ago, I was helped the same way.
As I stumbled and fell, thru a world so unreal,
So believe when I say that I know how you feel.

I don’t look for praise or financial gain
And I’m sure not the kind who gets joy out of pain.
I’m just a strong shoulder who’ll be here till the end -
I’ll be your Compassionate Friend

Steve Channing
TCF Winnipeg
In Memory of my daughter, Kimberly Susanne Channing