Friends of Aine is proud to announce that we were selected for the Your Choice Fidelity Care Project Grant. With the help of Boston Cares and Fidelity Investments employees, over 1,600 snack bags were packed for the children who attend our programs. Many of our programs run around meal time and these snack bags provide comfort and nourishment to children as they navigate their grief journeys.

At 18 years old, she left her hometown and enrolled in an accelerated Doctor of Pharmacy program at Northeastern University, and she is expected to graduate in 2025. At Northeastern, she found a support system that she did not know was possible, which encouraged her to fight for grieving young people to get the support they deserve. She gave a talk titled “Break The Silence: Let’s Talk About Grief” at TEDxNortheasternU in 2024, which can be found on YouTube. While she still fights to overcome the long-term impacts of her own childhood grief, she is passionate about engaging with other young people to have conversations about grief so that adequate support systems become a societal standard.

Cate joins Friends of Aine as a Blog Content Writer, where she will focus on crafting meaningful and impactful blog posts. Her writing will center around the mission of Friends of Aine, telling powerful stories that reflect the organization's dedication to supporting grieving children and families. ​

​Friends of Aine provides peer-to-peer support services to help children and families grieving a death navigate a path to a hopeful future. The two-year contract provides a total of $499,413 for fiscal years 2024 and 2025 with an option to renew for up to four additional years.
 
Christine Phillips, co-founder and executive director of Friends of Aine, said the contract will provide critical support for the center, which has an annual operating budget of $1 million. Christine and David Phillips founded the center following the death of their daughter Aine at age 8 in 2010. To date, Friends of Aine has assisted nearly 600 families at no cost thanks to the generosity of donors.
 
“The support from the state will provide an incredible boost,” Christine Phillips said. “We wouldn’t be able to expand our programs and infrastructure without this contract.”
 
Friends of Aine reports one in 12 New Hampshire children grieve the loss of a loved one by age 18. In addition to peer-to-peer services at its Manchester location, Friends of Aine continues to expand its “Grief Backpack Initiative,” a program tailored to help social workers, counselors and teachers assist grieving children and their peers. The program is now in 156 schools across the state.
 
Friends of Aine’s Annual Gala fundraiser is Saturday, April 6 at the DoubleTree by Hilton Manchester​. For more information, visit FriendsofAine.com.

as well as the opportunity to participate in virtual leadership training delivered by experts in the nonprofit sector on topics such as human capital management, increasing financial sustainability and storytelling.
 
As one of the state’s only centers for grieving children and families, Friends of Aine contributes significantly to the resiliency of New Hampshire families experiencing grief and reducing the stigma around death. It does this by providing peer to peer support programs, delivering education and resources to child and family support systems within local schools and communities, and advocating for recognition of child bereavement as an Adverse Childhood Experience (ACE).
 
Friends of Aine was founded in 2013 by Christine and David Phillips. The Phillips’ daughter, Aine (Ahn-ya) Marie Phillips, passed away suddenly and unexpectedly on August 10, 2010, at eight years old. Friends of Aine provides support for families and children who are grieving the loss of a loved one to ensure that no child grieves alone. The work is peer-to-peer, meaning that often help comes from individuals who have shared experience. The organization relies solely on the generosity of donors to sustain and grow its programs and services.
 
Neighborhood Champions is part of Bank of America’s Neighborhood Builders program, one of the largest philanthropic investments in nonprofit leadership development in the nation. Neighborhood Champions provides funding and leadership training to nonprofits that are advancing economic mobility and building up underserved neighborhoods. The invitation-only program is highly competitive, and nonprofits are selected by a committee comprised of community leaders and past awardees.
 
The Phillipses, who started the organization without prior nonprofit leadership experience, believe the Neighborhood Champions grant and leadership training will be transformational and go a long way toward advancing the organization’s expansion goals. Through continued fundraising and support from donors like Bank of America, Friends of Aine hopes to establish satellite centers and outreach programs in farther reaches of New Hampshire, so more families have access to in-person child bereavement support within their local communities.


“This will help us bring care and support for families with children who are grieving. With one in 12 children experiencing the death of a parent or sibling by 18, this issue is at the forefront of our minds,” said Christine Phillips. “When you think of your typical school classroom, that works out to be one child in every class, or even multiple children.”
 
“Nonprofits are vital to solving social challenges, improving communities and promoting economic advancement," said Ken Sheldon, president, Bank of America New Hampshire. “Providing these nonprofits with flexible funding and leadership training not only positions these nonprofits for sustainable, long-term success, but demonstrates our commitment to creating real change in the places where we live and work.”
 
Since 2004, Bank of America has invested more than $300 million in nearly 100 communities across the U.S., partnered with more than 1,600 nonprofits, and helped more than 3,000 nonprofit leaders strengthen their leadership skills through the Neighborhood Builders and Champions program.
 
Bank of America
Bank of America is one of the world’s leading financial institutions, serving individual consumers, small and middle-market businesses and large corporations with a full range of banking, investing, asset management and other financial and risk management products and services. The company provides unmatched convenience in the United States, serving approximately 69 million consumer and small business clients with approximately 3,900 retail financial centers, approximately 15,000 ATMs (automated teller machines) and award-winning digital banking with approximately 57 million verified digital users. Bank of America is a global leader in wealth management, corporate and investment banking and trading across a broad range of asset classes, serving corporations, governments, institutions and individuals around the world. Bank of America offers industry-leading support to approximately 4 million small business households through a suite of innovative, easy-to-use online products and services. The company serves clients through operations across the United States, its territories and more than 35 countries. Bank of America Corporation stock is listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: BAC).
 
For more Bank of America news, including dividend announcements and other important information, visit the Bank of America newsroom and register for news email alerts.

​Friends of Aine, which provides bereavement support services and resources to children and families who have suffered the death of a loved one, received the award Oct. 25 at BIA’s 110th Annual Dinner and Awards Celebration, presented by Eversource, at the Doubletree By Hilton Manchester Hotel. The award was accepted by the center’s founders, Christine and David Phillips.
 
The New Hampshire Advantage Award celebrates businesses, organizations or projects that enhance the Granite State’s special character and quality of life in meaningful ways. Friends of Aine’s services are provided at no cost thanks to the generosity of donors.
 
The night was even more special as Ken Sheldon, state president for Bank of America, which sponsored the New Hampshire Advantage Award, announced Friends of Aine will receive the Bank of America Charitable Foundation’s 2023 Neighborhood Champions grant. The grant provides $50,000 over two years, plus leadership development and capacity building insights from national speakers.
 
“I’m ecstatic to announce Friends of Aine was selected to receive this year’s award,” Sheldon said during his announcement. “So, in addition to presenting BIA’s prestigious 2023 New Hampshire Advantage Award to Friends of Aine’s Center for Grieving Children & Families, their terrific staff and volunteers will be receiving a little extra bonus.”
 
Friends of Aine offers a peer-to-peer model of small, age-based groups for children aged 4 to 18. The program features three 8-week sessions on Tuesdays and Thursdays during the academic year in the center’s beautiful Victorian house in Manchester. Friends of Aine also offers help for adults on how to parent a grieving child and a space to talk about their own grief.
 
The center extends its help through its “Grief Backpack Initiative.” Purple backpacks with a program to help social workers, counselors and teachers assist grieving children and their peers are now distributed to over 140 schools across the state. And Friends of Aine offers grief education training workshops and consultations for educators and community workers, as well as community-building events.
 
Christine and David Phillips said the grant and recognition by the BIA will help Friends of Aine achieve its vision: “A world where no child grieves alone.” Christine Phillips stresses Friends of Aine is a place where children feel safe.
 
“When a child comes in here, they think they’re the only kid this has happened to, but they learn they’re not alone. It’s amazing to see,” she said.
 
BIA also presented Lifetime Achievement Awards to Dean Christon, former executive director and CEO of NH Housing; state Sen. Lou D’Allesandro of Manchester; and Sherilyn Burnett Young, founder, shareholder and past president of Rath, Young and Pignatelli. Nearly 700 business, nonprofit and state leaders attended the sold-out event.
 
For more about Friends of Aine, visit FriendsofAine.com.

The taboo against talking about death is still strong in our society. Gold Award Girl Scout Jenna Dinndorf took on this difficult issue, working with the Manchester grief assistance group Friends of Aine, by creating an art campaign that allows grieving children to express themselves and raise awareness of grief as a mental health issue. 

Dinndorf, 17, of Bedford, earned Girl Scouting’s highest honor, the Girl Scout Gold Award, with her project, Grieving Through Art. The Gold Award is the pinnacle of a Girl Scout’s experience, available to those in grades 9-12. 

She was close to Aine Marie Phillips (pronounced AHN-ya), who died unexpectedly at the age of 8 in 2010. Aine was a Girl Scout at the time, in Troop 22190.The nonprofit Friends of Aine was begun to provide bereavement support services and resources to children and families in her honor.

“Grief is not as talked about as it should be,” said Dinndorf. “There's a certain stigma around it, and I think it's really important to just get rid of that stigma as much as possible.”

Dinndorf’s project has two main parts. One was to create a collection of art from children ages 4-18 and use it in an exhibit to raise awareness about grief and the resources provided by Friends of Aine. That exhibit has traveled to the Nashua YMCA, the Fisher Cats stadium in Manchester for the annual Gathering and Remembrance, the Boys and Girls Club, Flight Coffee in Bedford, and is currently on display at the Manchester-Boston International Airport near the baggage claim. Coping Cards is the second part of the project, which is a series of laminated cards with the children’s art that each have an idea of how to cope with grief, such as gazing at stars, exercising, making cookies, or helping someone out. Decks of these cards have been put in more than 125 backpacks with other items and sent to schools all over New Hampshire. Friends of Aine will sustain the project into the future.

Advisor Christine Phillips of Friends of Aine said Dinndorf’s project meant the world to her. 

“Both Jenna’s sisters were Aine’s friends so many years ago,” she said. “Jenna is my daughter Bella’s friend, and Linda has worked with us from the very beginning of Friends of Aine, more than 10 years ago. To have their support through our struggles and triumphs is a blessing. They are exceptional people and our dearest friends.”

She added that the project has been a big asset to her organization on two fronts.

“First, it has given children the option to share their grief through their art, which is hugely expressive and necessary for trauma kids, and ultimately speaks to our mission,” she said. “Second, it has given us a tangible art exhibit that is traveling around the state bringing awareness to child bereavement.”

Working on her project taught Dinndorf a variety of skills, from organizing and coordinating a team to the value of communicating and answering emails. She was also inspired by two older sisters who also earned the Gold Award. 

“That was something I wanted to achieve, too,” she said. “You're really helping the community.”

Dinndorf has been a Girl Scout since kindergarten, and has many good memories of her experience. 

“My favorite memories were always just the ones where my troop was together, and we were just hanging out and having a good time,” she said, reminiscing about helping an animal shelter, bonfires, dance nights, selling cookies, and making lasting friendships. 

Dinndorf is currently an honors student and junior at Bedford High School taking IB classes. She participates in soccer, hockey and track at the school. She swims for the Bedford Barracudas and dances at the Bedford Dance Center. She looks forward to going to college and staying connected with her community, helping in any way she can. 

● ● ●

Gold Award Girl Scouts don’t just change the world for the better, they change it for good. The Gold Award is earned by girls in grades 9–12 who demonstrate extraordinary leadership in developing sustainable solutions to local, national, and global challenges. Since 1912, Girl Scouts have answered the call to drive lasting, impactful change. They earn college scholarships, demonstrate high educational and career outcomes, and are active in their communities.

Jenna Dinndorf has answered the call to drive lasting, impactful change, and her Gold Award is a testament to her remarkable dedication to improving her community and the world. 

About the Girl Scout Gold Award

• Gold Award Girl Scouts on average spend one to two years on their project.
• A Gold Award project must be sustainable after the girl’s involvement ends.
• The average age of Gold Award Girl Scouts is 17.
• Since 1916, more than 1 million girls have earned the Gold Award or its equivalent.
• Gold Award Girl Scouts are entitled to enlist at a higher pay grade when they join the military.
• University research indicates that noting you are a Gold Award Girl Scout on a college application is influential in the admissions decision-making process.
• Eighteen young women from New Hampshire and Vermont have earned their Gold Award in the 2022-2023 membership year as part of Girl Scouts of the Green and White Mountains.
• The Girl Scout Gold Award is the mark of the truly remarkable.

Christine, who co-founded the nonprofit agency with her husband David Phillips, talks about a dream come true in the wake of tragedy. The couple lost their daughter Aine (pronounced Ahn-ya) suddenly and unexpectedly at age 8 on Aug. 10, 2010.

Christine, David and their daughter, Bella, were forced to learn to live again. Bella, who was 6 at the time, inspired a journey that has helped hundreds of children in New Hampshire.

“She said ‘I feel alone; no one at school knows how I feel,’” Christine says.

Christine and David were receiving grieving support, but it was harder to find for Bella. They did find a small and limited eight-week program with Home Health & Hospice Care in Merrimack.

“When she finished, she said ‘I want to do more,’” Christine says. That led to creating Friends of Aine as a fundraising organization to support the Merrimack program. “To be honest,” Christine adds, “at that time it was a survival technique.” David and Christine would grow those efforts into an agency with a mission to help children and families grieving a death navigate their path to a hopeful future. Thanks to the generosity of donors, Friends of Aine’s services are offered at no cost to families.

Friends of Aine will receive the Business & Industry Association’s 2023 New Hampshire Advantage Award, sponsored by Bank of America. The award celebrates businesses, organizations or projects that enhance the Granite State’s special character and quality of life in meaningful ways.

The honor will be presented at BIA’s 110th Annual Dinner and Awards Celebration, presented by Eversource, Wednesday, Oct. 25 at the DoubleTree by Hilton in Manchester. State Sen. Lou D’Allesandro, former NH Housing executive director Dean Christon, and Rath Young & Pignatelli attorney Sherilyn Burnett Young will receive BIA’s Lifetime Achievement Award, sponsored by Whelen Engineering Company.

One in 12 New Hampshire children grieve the loss of a loved one by age 18. The need for help was so great that in 2018 Home Health and Hospice Care gifted the support program to Christine and David. Restricted by using multiple locations with limited space, in 2021 they acquired the Victorian house that was the law office of Moquin & Daley, along with a house next door.

The peer-to-peer model features three eight-week sessions on Tuesdays and Thursdays during the academic year. Typically, around 80 children and 40 adults participate in small groups. While Friends of Aine has a clinician on site in case of crisis, the model is built around letting kids be kids, even in grieving.

“Children grieve differently,” Christine says. “They go in and out. Because a child can have moments when they appear not to be grieving, adults often don’t give them all the support they need.”

The house is filled with rooms set up for different age groups: Littles (age 4-6), Middles (7-9) Tweens (10-12) and Teens (13-18, high schoolers). Children meet in groups of six to eight. Guardians of the children are required to stay on site during the sessions so Friends of Aine began offering help on how to parent a grieving child and to give them space to talk about their own grief. Adults typically meet in groups of eight to 10.

Christine stresses Friends of Aine is not gloom and doom, but a place where children feel safe. “It’s OK to be vulnerable, it’s OK to laugh, it’s OK to cry,” she says. “When a child comes in here, they think they’re the only kid this has happened to, but they learn they’re not alone. It’s amazing to see.”

Each session requires about 44 volunteers in roles ranging from group facilitators to greeters. Volunteers are essential to Friends of Aine, which has a staff of six. Recruitment happens year-round through lunch-and-learn events and training opportunities. Friends of Aine also has work study and internship programs for college students.

While direct support services are its heart and soul, Friends of Aine broadens its reach through its “Grief Backpack Initiative.” Purple backpacks containing a five-week program to help social workers, counselors and teachers assist grieving children and their peers are distributed to 125 schools in the state. Friends of Aine also offers grief education training workshops and consultations for educators and community workers.

Friends of Aine continues to raise awareness and build advocacy efforts. Christine testified before the Senate Finance Committee in support of increased investment in mental health services. One-third of children attending the Friends of Aine program lost a parent or loved one to an overdose or suicide.

“We’re an important part of the mental health structure in the state,” she says. “We’re preventative so that children can navigate the next adverse childhood experience. We help them develop coping skills. Grief is not a process that has a beginning and end. It never goes away. We just learn how to manage it.”

Fundraising is crucial for Friends of Aine, like most nonprofits. Its top events are the SEA of HOPE Gala in April and the Kids’ Try-athlon each August. But Christine says fundraisers “aren’t even close to being enough,” so they also rely on a grant writer, corporate sponsors and individual donors. Friends of Aine will hold an open house Nov. 15 to begin its annual appeal.

“We have to raise a lot more money because we need to continue to meet the need,” Christine says.
To purchase tickets for BIA’s Annual Dinner and to see a list of event sponsors, visit https://bit.ly/BIAAnnualDinner2023. To learn about sponsorship opportunities, email Lora McMahon.

Rick Fabrizio is director of communications and public policy for the BIA.

This article was originally written by Rick Fabrizio, published in the NH Business Review.

250 children of all athletic abilities participated in the swimming, biking, and running event.
​
Children ages four through ten swam 25 yards, biked one mile, and ran a half mile. Children ages eleven through fifteen swam 50 yards, biked two miles, and ran one mile. Participants and spectators enjoyed grilled cheese after the race, prepared by the Friends of Aine’s Board of Directors. Following the race, children and families had fun with various crafts, outdoor activities and entertainment including live music and dancing, a hula-hoop contest, and glitter tattoos. Children and adults were also encouraged to contribute to the “Grief-itti Memory Mural,” sponsored by Elliot Health System. Aine’s childhood friend Kat Zimmerman emceed the event, while several community collaborators provided kid-friendly activities at their table during the post-race celebration. Photos throughout the event were taken by Headshots Photography. Continuing the Kids’ Try-athlon tradition, Bedford High School football players ran through the finish line with the final racer, while the Bedford High School cheer team encouraged racers throughout the event.     
​      
This year’s Try-athlon Champion sponsor was AutoFair Honda. Additional supporters included Elliot Health System, Bellwether Community Credit Union, Rothwangl Dental, Bedford Men’s Club, Cross Insurance, Metro Walls, Rise Private Wealth Management, and many other generous local businesses. Friends of Aine also received generous donations from Hannaford, Market Basket, Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods, and Freihofer’s Bakery. Millennium Running designed the racecourse and managed event timing.

“The Kid’s Try-athlon is an important part of our mission. It provides kids the opportunity to get outside, gain confidence in their athletic abilities, and support other children and families who are grieving,” said Christine Phillips, Friends of Aine Co-Founder. “It also honors the memory of our beloved Aine, who enjoyed outside activities – especially swimming, biking, and running during the summer months.”