Becoming Lemonade: Children's grief & legacy workshop

Welcome back to Weekend Wake Up. Losing a parent, guardian, or close loved one is a pain no child should have to bear. Now one Racine County woman is on a mission to help children heal and cope. It's the Becoming Lemonade Children's Grief and Legacy Workshop, a free workshop for children who have lost someone close. The organizer, Ernest Riley, joins us live in the studio now here with her son, Jeremiah. First, let's talk about this event. Basically, this event is a way to love the children, hug the children, let them know that they're supported and loved, let them know that they're not alone and that they have a safe place that they can just feel however they feel. There's no wrong way to show up as long as they show up. Okay, and in this event here, when we talk about becoming Lemonade, I'm assuming here that we're squeezing our lemons and we're making something beautiful of them. How did the name even come about? And I love your lemons as well. Thank you. You're yellow. Thank you, thank you. All my life I've been becoming lemonade and I really had to learn and dig deep and figure out like what does this mean and go through the whole process from the seed all the way to the point where I transition into lemonade, including the right ingredients to become that lemonade. And we talk about the right ingredients. This is your son Jeremiah. Jeremiah, let's talk about mental health for children. Why is this event here so important? Um, I believe that this is very important because not everyone has a space or not everyone just has the words to tell someone that they love what they're going through and how they experience grief and their ways. exactly exactly yeah so so well spoken at such a young age thank you what advice would you give children who may be struggling or in need of some assistance or maybe they don't know how to talk to their parent what are kind of some things that you guys have done to communicate with each other sure um so we decided to create um cards so i can send them to my mom so when i don't want to talk necessarily I send them through they're like the break there's like one that's like I need a break or I need comfort I need like you know a lot etc so that would be one thing that that would be a great starting point for people that are just struggling but don't really have the words so you should most likely set that up with a parent or someone that you love that you live with. And I think that's very important. And how is the card? How's that working? It's amazing because it's given him words for the words he didn't have. And it's given him permission to tell me, leave me alone. And that's okay. And I think that's his favorite one. He did a little chuckle there. Yeah. Not that he necessarily wants to always be alone, but sometimes he just needs that moment in space. And I'm trying to surround him with love and I might be smothering him a bit and I might be getting on his nerves. So I just want to make sure that I'm giving him what he needs at the time that he needs it. And for those who are watching, we want to make sure they get the event details. It's important that they be there at the right time at the right place. Give us a time location. I know there are also still some resources that you need. Yes. We've actually had an amazing outpouring from the community. There's been donations of pizza. There's been donations of water and different things like that. You know, there's still always monetary contributions that would be welcome. We are going to be holding it at a space called Gifted hands creations which has been gifted to us for this event that's a blessing in itself oh my goodness because venue space can definitely be costly so that's at 1505 washington avenue in racine wisconsin and it'll be monday tomorrow um the 19th and it'll be from 5 30 to 7 p.m we'll provide food we'll provide resources we'll provide love hugs and lots of ways for the kids to just walk away feeling better have different ways to express themselves there's no wrong way for them to show up yeah and there's no wrong way for them to you know participate they can either sing they can dance they can draw they can color they can just be present yeah yeah well thank you both so much for joining us live in the studio jeremiah maybe a sentence to the kids watching uh why should they come out if they need help i think you should come because if you have struggles you can express yourself in a way that you may have may not have never ever have and I think it's important to try new things to try to cope and get around how you feel on things and yeah I'd say that and try your best just keep on going and I'm glad you're I'm glad you want to Thank you for your strength. Both of you. Thank you both for being here with us and sharing this with us. Turning lemons into lemonade. Beautiful. And I love your lemons on your tie as well. Thank you so much. We've got more news and weather for you right after the break.