COLUMBUS, Ohio — After experiencing the loss of a loved one, an Ohio woman is taking her pain and turning it into hope for others going through what she has.
What You Need To Know
- Jude Grant makes bears for people whose loved ones have died by suicide
- She uses items that belonged to the loved one to make the bears
- Grant experienced her own lost when her daughter died by suicide
- She does the act through the Local Outreach to Suicide Survivor
Jude Grant is a volunteer for the Local Outreach to Suicide Survivor or LOSS Community Organization. She makes teddy bears for suicide survivors — a group of people she relates to.
“This is a bear I made out of one of my daughters dresses, and obviously her favorite color is pink,” said Grant. “It took about a year and a half when she died by suicide before I could even do something like this.”
Denise Meine-Graham is the founder of LOSS. She said shortly after Grant began volunteering, she pitched a special project.
"She had this amazing idea to actually make bears out of people’s loved ones items, maybe a blanket,” said Meine-Graham.
Meine-Graham’s son died by suicide in 2012; Grant made her a bear out of his high school graduation gown.
Before the pandemic, Grant would sew the bears together and the families would come together to stuff them.
"They're used to seeing this item as a shirt and now it's transformed into something else, so it can be hard for them, but as they stuff them they start telling stories for why they picked that shirt and then they tell more stories and then the tears turn into smiles,” she said.
The events have been on hold during the pandemic, but Grant has sewn a couple of bears since then.
For more information, visit the LOSS Community Organization website. The national suicide prevention lifeline is 1-800-273-8255.