Helping children navigate the grieving process after the death of a loved one is the mission of Supporting KIDDS. The organization's experienced psychologists offer the nation's sole curriculum-driven bereavement support program for children and families. The program helps parents and guardians answer a child's difficult questions about death in an age-appropriate manner.
A donation of Microsoft Office software through TechSoup's donation program helps the organization's staff prepare materials used in the program. PowerPoint is deployed to teach children about funerary services and rituals. The full curriculum is kept in documents created using Microsoft Word.
The organization has a staff of 3.5 full-time employees who rely heavily on Microsoft Office tools to provide services to numerous children and their families. Microsoft Publisher was used for everything from ticket design to marketing flyers for a fundraiser. The $35,000 collected in the fundraiser as well as donor information and budgeting was tracked in Microsoft Excel.
In 2008, with help from TechSoup and Microsoft, Supporting KIDDS provided grief education to 455 professionals who deal with grieving children, like educators and pediatricians, and counseled 264 grieving children and their families.