Solace Tree

Contact: Jackie Shelton

jackieshelton@sbcglobal.net | 775.772.6543

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Reno, NV (November 1, 2012) – Verizon Wireless has awarded the Solace Tree a Verizon Foundation Grant Award of $5,000 to be used to help launch “Virtual Solace,” a web-based program that will allow the Solace Tree to offer grief support group services to remote or underserved communities. “We’re doing good work on a local level, and this program will allow us to leverage our proven model beyond the Reno-Sparks area,” said David Wertzberger, Solace Tree Board Chair. “We get requests for help from all over the country, but it’s not feasible for us to set up a Solace Tree in all these places just yet. With Virtual Solace, we can still help these people.”

In the spring, the Solace Tree received a grant of $35,000 from the Chicago-based William C. McGowan Charitable Fund, which has a vision to “impact lives today, create sustainable change, and empower future generations to achieve their greatest potential.” The grant, which is subject to the Solace Tree matching it with $31,200, was the impetus for launching “Virtual Solace.” “Unresolved grief and community depression can lead to delinquency and crime. Our work alleviates that for communities like Douglas County, Fallon, Fernley, Elko, Austin, and Newburgh, NY, pretty much anywhere there’s an Internet connection,” says Emilio Parga, Executive Director. ”And, there is not currently grief support available for children and teens in much of Nevada and in many areas of the country.”

Money raised will go toward staff and technology necessary to implement

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Reno, NV (November 3, 2012) – The Solace Tree is joining with Highmark Caring Place, a grief center based in Pittsburgh, PA, to commemorate Children’s Grief Awareness Day, which is observed on the Thursday before Thanksgiving each year. “It’s a day focused on remembering the children all around us who have experienced the death of a loved one,” explained Solace Tree Executive Director Emilio Parga. “Families often feel more alone during the holidays and this a reminder to reach out to them and let them know they haven’t been forgotten.”

Participating in Children’s Grief Awareness Day
There are many ways to participate in Children’s Grief Awareness Day but the easiest ways are:

• Wear blue on that day and let people know why you’re wearing blue.
• Visit the Children’s Grief Awareness Day Facebook page and join in the conversation while you’re there.
• Share your thoughts and memories on the Solace Tree Facebook page.
• Join the Holding on to HOPE campaign at any time of the year to show grieving children there really is hope that it won’t always hurt so badly.
• If you’d like to take the next step in raising awareness, read about more ideas.

Why Raise Awareness for Grieving Kids and Teens?

• There are more grieving children than most of us realize – one out of 20 children will experience the death of a parent before they graduate from high school while one out of every seven children will face the death of someone close to them.
• Many people don’t realize it takes most children much longer to deal with

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Contact: Jackie Shelton

jackieshelton@sbcglobal.net / 775.772.6543

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Emilio Parga Named Recipient of the University of Phoenix
2012 Alumni Community Service Award

Reno, NV (August 18, 2012) –

Solace Tree Executive Director, Emilio Parga, has been selected as the recipient of the University of Phoenix (UOP) 2012 Alumni Community Service Award. His story will be featured in the UOP alumni magazine. He has also been invited to throw out the first pitch at the UOP Alumni event, being held at the Reno Aces game, Sunday, August 26 at 1:10pm.

In addition to the Solace Tree, Parga has co-founded four other grief centers in Nevada, as well as one in New York, with more planned for the future. He is the author of No Child Should Grieve Alone and four journals written with children for children who have experienced a death, all of which are sold internationally. You’ll Always Be With Me, the Solace Tree documentary he worked on with the local KNPB (the Reno PBS affiliate), was selected as a 2011 Silver Communicator Award winner.

Emilio also serves as an Clinical Assistant Professor at the University of Nevada School of Medicine, as a bereavement consultant to local schools, social service agencies, universities, hospitals and funeral homes, as well as providing in-service credits, trainings and lectures related to children and teens dealing with death. Working as a volunteer for the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS), he has provided counseling for military families, as well as the families of 9-11 victims. He is also a national speaker for the

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