At 13, Piper Lost Her Stepdad. At 17, She’s Helping Other Grieving Kids Feel Welcome.

When Piper first heard about Valerie’s House, she wasn’t sure it was a place for her.

Her stepdad, Angel, died when she was 13 years old.

“He was really funny. He was very outgoing. He knew a lot of people in the city because he grew up here. He was just a really funny guy.”

Piper’s younger brother first found Valerie’s House through a grief support group at his school. Her mom encouraged her to come, too.

At first, she hesitated.

“I didn’t really know what it was, and it was my mom and my brother that were going, so I just thought it should be between them.”

But eventually, at 14 years old and a freshman in high school, Piper walked through the doors of Valerie’s House for the first time.

What happened next stayed with her.

“My first group night was really nice. When I first got here, Susan came up to me, and she had another girl from the group, and she introduced me to her, so I met someone right when I came in.”

That girl showed Piper around and helped introduce her to the other teens in her group. Alexis, a Valerie’s House Teen Ambassador at the time, was one of her group leaders.

“It was very comforting. I just felt very welcomed, even though I’d never been through anything like this before. And I felt connected to the people around me, even though I never heard their stories, really.”

During that first group night, Piper participated in an activity using Polaroid cameras. The teens were asked to take a picture of something that reminded them of their grief and something that could bring light to the dark places.

Piper chose the Valerie’s House home itself.

“The house was the thing that brightened me up because I never experienced anything like this. It was just really sweet. The community here was so special to me.”

Three years later, Piper is 17. And now, she is becoming the person who welcomes someone else through those same doors.

After completing Teen Ambassador training, Piper will take on new responsibilities at Valerie’s House, helping support and connect with other grieving children and teens.

The inspiration came, in part, from another Valerie’s House Teen Ambassador and friend, Ava.

“She’s so connected to Valerie’s House, it kind of made me want to do more around here, too.”

Piper admits she’s nervous about taking on more responsibility. But she knows exactly what she hopes to give another grieving child.

“I’m a little nervous because this is the most responsibility I’ve had in a while, but I think I can do good and hopefully be inspiring to someone and make someone feel the way I felt when I came in.”

She remembers what it was like to be new. To be unsure. To walk into a place she’d never experienced before.

And she knows how difficult that first step can be.

“I hope I am now, even in my group, that I’m welcoming to the people coming in because even coming in just for your own group night is hard. And coming in as a little kid, coming as an adult, coming in as a teenager, it’s confusing.”

But at Valerie’s House, Piper found something she says can be difficult to find anywhere else: people who understand.

“Everybody here has a shared experience. It might not be the exact same experience, but it’s shared. And it’s hard to go places and find people who have experienced something so traumatic and can relate on any different level.”

Grief doesn’t always look the same. It can be sadness. It can be laughter. It can exist alongside joy.

Whatever it looks like, Piper says there is someone at Valerie’s House who can relate.

“Whether it’s like people grieving, if they’re laughing or sad or whatever, you can find people who relate to you in any way.”

Piper came to Valerie’s House as a grieving 14-year-old who wasn’t sure she belonged.

Now, at 17, she is preparing to help make sure the next child who walks through the doors knows they do.

And for any grieving child or teen who has heard about Valerie’s House but isn’t sure whether to take that first step, Piper has a simple message:

“Just come in and try it out, and you’ll experience something very life changing.”