Jan. 26—GOSHEN — How does a family grieve the loss of a child? Over 20 years ago, Rex and Nancy Gleim founded Ryan’s Place.

On Thursday night the couple was surprised to learn that they’d be receiving the Governor’s award, The Sagamore of the Wabash, for helping over 19,000 children, teens, and families cope with loss.

“I told my grandson today ‘I always thought the Sagamore Award was for really important people,’ and he said, ‘Some people think you are,'” Rex said.

On April 11, 1992 the Gleim’s son Ryan died in a car crash at the age of 20. They needed counseling support for his younger brother but found that a children’s grief center didn’t exist, at least not in Elkhart County.

So instead, they opened a branch of the organization Compassionate Friends, designed for adults, which ran for about 18 years.

“It always seemed like ‘Well kids don’t grieve,’ but we know that’s not right,” Rex explained. “Both Nancy and I were parents and educators and we’d see kids who had a parent die and it just changes them. We knew there was a need. It was just getting it set up and creating it.”

In 2001, they found an organization that could train them in grief counseling for children in Portland, Oregon, and Ryan’s Place was born. On Sunday, the nonprofit celebrates 23 years.

“We just marvel at how it has grown and how it has changed and how we’ve taken this concept and we’ve made it fit to our community,” he said.

Ryan’s Place hosts grief counselling and programs for children of all ages, dividing them up by age group, as well as programs for adults suffering the loss of a child, and includes Spanish-speaking programs. They also bring programs into area schools, and are beginning an outreach program for post-high schoolers and young adults.

“One of the things that we like to stress is that we are a free program,” Rex said. “We do not charge for our services.”

Instead, to maintain the program, they rely predominantly on volunteers and college interns. They have almost 40, and only four paid staff.

Volunteers go through training offers twice yearly.

“Sometimes people are trained and decide it’s not what they want to do, which is okay,” Rex said.

The organization is also gearing up to construct a new building. They are currently short about $1 million to begin. The building will be around 20,000 square feet behind Prairieview Elementary School and The Maples at Waterford Crossing in Goshen. The building will allow for each age unit to have its own room so materials can stay in the classroom, and will also allow them to further expand programming.

Currently, programs are offers on Monday nights, but the hope is with the new building, they’ll be able to expand into daytime hours, offering programs for seniors, as well as two full-time counselors for other daytime services.

For more information, to volunteer, or to donate to Ryan’s Place visit ryansplace.org.

Dani Messick is the education and entertainment reporter for The Goshen News. She can be reached at dani.messick@goshennews.com or at 574-538-2065.