Bereavement Care Network Grows

Over 100 people gathered at City Hall Friday night for a New Haven nonprofit’s annual induction ceremony and meet and greet in support of families who have lost loved ones to street violence.

Now in its sixth year, the organization, Bereavement Care Network Inc (BCN), works to support and assist local families affected by homicide.

Fifteen new members were inducted, including two to the group’s advisory board, a substantial rise from 2018, when only one new member was added. Founder and President Nakia Dawson-Douglas attributed this uptick to an increasing perception that ​“our group is here to stay, that we’re not a fly-by-night operation, and that we really are doing important work.”

While New Haven’s homicide rate has dropped in recent years, the group emphasized that the change does not make the pain suffered by a victim’s relatives any less acute.

To help those families, BCN helps arrange funerals and flowers, makes donations to help with costs when necessary, and provides aftercare counseling as well.

“We are dedicated to these families as if they were our own,” the group’s mission statement reads. ​“Our mission is to help families understand that they are not alone,”

Friday evening’s induction ceremony began with a prayer from Apostle Randall Furlow, setting the tone for a deeply spiritual event. After words from Bereavement Care Network leaders, the 17 current members, dressed in blue, strode to the front of the room. The soon-to-be members, dressed in black, next walked down a makeshift red carpet to applause, as they received BCN pins from earlier members.

Both new and old members alike then took the BCN pledge, agreeing to dedicate their time and energy to fulfilling the organization’s mission.

Each year, the organization bestows a Community Service Award on a person or group. The 2019 award recognized Women of Blessings, a local group of African-American women, ​“in recognition of their many contributions and faithful service to the New Haven Area.” Women of Blessings has worked for the last ten years to support women and children’s shelters with donations and gift drives, as well as by volunteering at soup kitchens and at Columbus House.

While the group’s focus is a somber subject, Dawson-Douglas described the Bereavement Care Network’s annual event as a ​“joyous occasion.” With friends and families milling around, eating, drinking, and talking, the atmosphere was largely festive.

Underneath the festivity, the emotional and practical importance of the group’s work was clear. Vanessa Thigpen, whose nephew Donell Allick was killed in 2011, said she is ​“so happy BCN got started. Before, struggling families didn’t know where to go, or who to call. When my nephew was killed, it was chaos: we didn’t know who to turn to.”

Thigpen explained that in the past, she often felt obliged to bottle up her pain at the loss of Donell for the sake of the kids in her family: ​“I still often feel like throwing tantrums about him being gone, but now I have someone to talk to. The Bereavement Care Network is an outlet. The work they do has an enormous positive impact.”

After closing remarks and a final prayer, the assembled members and their families and friends mingled in the lobby of City Hall, where sandwiches, salad, fruit, and other refreshments were served as music played.