Our group offers understanding, friendship and bereavement support in an effort to assure that parents are not alone in their grief when their baby has died.  We invite you to join us for a time of sharing and mutual support with others parents who have experienced similar losses.

No registration is required.  ~  The group is free, with no dues or fees.

If you do not wish to attend our meetings, but would like to receive the monthly newsletter and other bereavement literature,
 please contact us.

Our Support Group Offers:

  • Telephone bereavement peer-support

  • Monthly peer-support group meetings

  • An extensive Memorial Lending Library that is available at each meeting

  • ‘Guardian Angels’ monthly newsletter

  • Bereavement “care packages” containing helpful literature to assist grieving families

  • Annual Remembrance Ceremony in October, acknowledging Pregnancy & Infant Loss Awareness Month

  • Our support group networks with several hospital-based bereavement groups on Long Island


Support Group Meetings
Held on the 1st Friday of each month.
(During holiday times, please call to confirm.)
Time
7:30 p.m. – 9:30 p.m.
Meetings begin and end promptly.

Location
 St. Kilian Msgr. Swiger Parish Center (Church basement)
Blue Room (opposite the kitchen)
485 Conklin Street, Farmingdale, 11735
Enter via outside stairwells
Click here for driving directions


GAPS Contact Information
 For further information, please contact:

Martha Weiss, LPN, Coordinator, Facilitator
Phone: (516) 249-8589
(24 hour answering machine)
E-mail

 

NEW!

October has been proclaimed as Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month. 

St. Mary’s
Perinatal Support Group

This support group meets on the 3rd Thursday of each month and offers support for those who have suffered miscarriage, stillbirth, and infant death. 

St. Mary’s Parish
Sacred Heart Hall  - Joseph Room
(entrance on side under Parish Social Ministry Offices)
Main St. & Harrison Ave
East Islip
7:30 - 9 pm

For information call facilitators
 Gini Sandles (631) 277-1754
or Eileen Penny (631) 374-3235
 

 
Support Groups - Questions & Answers

Our group is sponsored by St Kilian Parish Bereavement Ministry.
We are also a registered SHARE Group of the National SHARE Office, Missouri.
SHARE Website: http://www.nationalshareoffice.com/


GAPS is a registered member of the National Perinatal Bereavement Organization:
SHARE
Pregnancy & Infant Loss Support
http://www.nationalshareoffice.com/

Our group follows the SHARE mission, which is:
“to serve those, whose lives are touched by the tragic death of a baby through early pregnancy loss, stillbirth, or in the first few months of life.”
The SHARE logo depicts the empty, cradling arms, encircled by SHARE that represents the emptiness faced by families when their baby dies. The heart within the circle represents the love and understanding that bereaved families are given.

Prayer to St. Gerard for Pregnancy

St. Gerard, holy intercessor for mothers and babies, please pray for us during this time of our pregnancy.  I feel this blessed life growing within me, and am filled with praise for our Wondrous Creator ~ a God who gives life, and then entrusts us to nurture and nourish it.  I think about our Blessed Mother, bearer of the very Son of God, and of my own mother, who bore me in loving faithfulness.  My prayer is that God protects this baby; that we have a safe and healthy pregnancy and delivery; and that this child and all our family grow in living faith until we find our place among God's Communion of Saints in everlasting life.  Amen.
 


For Just a Little While

For just a little while,
You shared my every breath.
I carried you inside of me,
Dancing out the rhythm
Of the same sweet song,
Our hearts beat in harmony.
For just a little while,
I held you deep within.
I nurtured you with body, mind and soul.
 
When you slipped away,
The absence of your presence
Took a wrenching and tormenting toll.
For just a little while,
Our dreams and hopes
Grew right along with you.
But they came crashing down
When you slipped away from me
And there was nothing anyone could do.
 
If, for a little while,
I could hold you once again,
And we could share the
rhythm of our hearts,
If we could say hello, good-bye,
Like loved ones do,
When one of them departs,
If, for a little while,
We could have precious moments
Stopped in time
I’d tell you that I love you,
And I’d share my joy
In knowing you were mine…
For just a little while.
 
~ Gwen Flowers ~ 

 

Perinatal Loss Resource Websites:

A Place to Remember

 http://www.aplacetoremember.com/

Be Not Afraid: Adverse diagnosis

 http://www.benotafraid.net/

Center for Loss in Multiple Loss

 http://www.climb-support.org/

Centering Corporation

 http://www.centeringcorp.com/

First Candle/SIDS

 http://www.firstcandle.org/

Forever Our Angels http://foreverourangels.tripod.com

Grandparent support

 http://www.agast.org/

Hygeia

 http://www.hygeia.org/

Kota Press

 http://www.kotapress.com/

March of Dimes

 http://www.modimes.org/

MEND

 http://www.mend.org/

MISS

 http://www.missfoundation.org/

My Forever Child

 http://myforeverchild.com

National Council of Jewish Women/
Perinatal Loss Support

www.ncjwny.org/services_plsp.htm

NSS – National Stillbirth Society

 http://www.stillnomore.org/

Pregnancy Journeys After Loss www.PregnancyJourneysAfterLoss.com

Shrine of the Holy Innocents

 http://www.innocents.com/

Silent Grief

 http://www.silentgrief.com/

Subsequent Pregnancy After a Loss

 http://www.spals.com/

Tear Soup/Perinatal Loss

 http://www.griefwatch.com/

TCF

 http://www.compassionatefriends.org/

If are are getting "baby" junk mail and want to get off the list write to:

Mailing Preference Service
PO Box 9008
Farmingdale, NY 11735

or visit them online www.dmaconsumers.org/offmailinglist.html

For telephone solicitation removal:

Mailing Preference Service
Phone Preference
PO Box 9014
Farmingdale, NY 11735

This will not stop every call or mailing, but it will catch the bulk.
 It may take several weeks to take effect.

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