Dear Hoping Skills,
I bought the adult Tomauro®
Kit for a friend of mine who recently lost
her mother. She was so overwhelmed with the
beauty and content of your kit. She will be
bringing it to New Jersey with her where she
is looking forward to putting the kit together
with her two adult daughters.
Thank you so much for giving
me an opportunity to give so much more than
flowers, I was able to give a gift of hope love
and a visual remembrance for the family which
they can look at for many years to come. And
when great grandchildren are born to this family
they can use the Tomauro Kit® to reflect
on who their great grandmother was.
Thank you again,
Kathy
DePiero, Londonderry, N.H.
February 11, 2005
To whom it may concern:
My husband was deployed last
fall for an 18 month tour of duty in Iraq as
part of Operation Iraqi Freedom. My friend gave
our youngest child, Alex, age 5, a Tomauro®
Kit to help him cope with being without his
father during the deployment. My husband trained
at various bases in this country during the
first few months of his deployment.
It didn’t really hit my
son that dad would be gone so long because during
the first few months of his deployment my husband
could come home for a couple of days at a time.
He arrived in Iraq at the beginning of this
year and will not be able to come home until
early next year.
It’s been over a month
since Alex has seen his father. He kisses his
father’s picture at dinner and says a prayer
for him every night before going to bed.
The Tomauro® Kit has been
very helpful for Alex to be able to express
his feelings. He uses the markers to express
what he thinks daddy is doing overseas. The
kit helps Alex talk about how he’s feeling.
This kit has helped Alex deal
with his father being gone in a very positive
way.
Corrinne,
Beverly, MA
I want to thank you for your
quick response to my “need” for Hope
Stones. Your willingness to go out of the way
to mail them quickly and efficiently has made
it possible for me to take them with me to the
Child Abuse Symposium. I will be presenting
a two-hour session entitled, “Grief and
Loss As We Work,” and am looking forward
to sharing the stones. I use rocks in my work
for various reasons and find that they can represent
anything we wish in the healing process, so
your glass stones will be a welcome addition.
I am a counselor with plenty of personal experience
with grief and have also had professional training
over the years, as well. Having lost a son myself,
I truly understand how helpful it is to bring
meaning to such loss, provide hope for those
who have need of it, and also teach skills to
those who want to provide comfort.
It is amazing when we realize
that something as small and simple as a stone
or feather or tiny angel can lift the spirits
of those in the depths of grief.
Thank you for choosing to share
your gifts with others.
Mary
Smith, GA
"[The kit ] helped her understand everything,
it helped me answer her questions when she asked
because its not a typical discussion topic. It
made things a lot easier."
Becky, Mom of 6 year
old, Beverly, MA
"The
Tomauro® Kits helped our family so much
at such a sad time. Through the kits, we were
able to understand the gifts we had been given
as Grandad lay in his hospital bed slipping
away from us.
To
receive these kits as a gift was such a gift
in itself. What other way can you help someone
heal their or their child's heart? As someone
who always cooked to "help", the Tomauro®
Kits nourish far deeper and far longer. Thank
you for helping others on the journey of life."
Linda, mom of 7 yr
old and 10 yr old, Chandler, AZ
"I wanted to thank
you for providing this wonderful resource. My
sister died after a long illness a year ago and
my sister in law sent me the I Remember
You journal. I was so touched by this
gesture and loved the journal - I stayed up late
last night reading it over and over again. Despite
the flood of tears, I was touched reading passages
and remembering her in a totally different light.
Thank you again for your compassion and understanding."
Pat, Sandwich, MA
"It
was very hard for [the kids] to process this
death. The book [that came in the kit] was so
helpful. They were able to process the death
in a tangible way. It was astounding
to see them pour their feelings into the book.
It was beautiful."
Kiera, mom of two school
aged children whose 10 year old cat died, Arlington,
MA
"The mom made a tribute
to her son in the shadow box. She was able to
celebrate her son's life and focus on healing.
It's rewarding to know you can comfort someone
during what's probably their biggest nightmare."
Mary, Child Life Specialist,
Worcester, MA
"I
was a child and family therapist for years and
always had difficulty finding good resources
for families dealing with grief. At a helpless
time in people's lives, what a wonderful
service you have to offer!! "
Marjorie, North Andover,
MA
“I would like to take
this opportunity to let all of you at Hoping
Skills know how special your gifts and resources
are. I sent your shadow box remembrance gift
after a friend of mine lost her father. She
is one of seven siblings and she told me that
they chose Thanksgiving to sit as a family,
children and grandchildren, each contributing
to their own special memories of her father.
To quote, ‘It was the most precious tribute
we could have ever have hoped for.’”
Seena,
Derry, NH
"I read the obituaries
today and noticed that my neighbor's father
died and I wanted to send something to the grandchildren.
I didn't want to send flowers to the kids--
I was in a rush and the [Hoping Skills] products
were perfect!"
Pat, Wenham, MA
"The
Tomauro® Kit (for adults) fills you with
all the positive emotions of remembering your
loved one. I also felt the sadness, but I was
filled with a comforting sense of peace
and joy. Now I have my shadow-box with mementos
to treasure. Your choice of treasures in your
kit is very creative and healing."
Pam, Rockport, MA
"The Tomauro® Kits
are a great source of comfort for the boys."
Cheryl, mom of 9 year
old and 12 year old, Wenham, MA
"You (HSC) are a
huge resource and sense of comfort."
Carol, school nurse,
Danvers, MA
Your story is so touching and
heartfelt and I'm SO glad I ordered from your
site. There was a reason it spoke to me. I'd
been looking at quite a few sites and yours
was just what I needed (and could afford). I
plan to share the site with my step-sister,
who lost her little girl (5 yrs) to cancer two
weeks ago.
Jennifer,
Florida
