The Joyful Widower

A few months ago brother widower Mathew Bradley, host of the Solo Dad Podcast and the Solo Dad Facebook page, posted a message about an outreach organization in the Knoxville area called the Widowed Parent Relief Project. No sooner did I find their web page than I was messaging the founder for more information and to ask about the possibility of coming on board in some capacity to serve widow/ers and their children.

Kelly Orrico miraculously survived a massive stroke at the age of 39. During her recovery she pondered how her husband and children would have fared had she died, and came to the conviction that God was calling her to form an outreach ministry to aid widow/ers with children at home. Thus was WPRP born.

WPRP Family Friends are volunteers who commit to walk alongside a family for a year, being a liaison between the parent and WPRP to identify the family’s needs and to find resources to meet those needs. During that year WPRP also provides services such as biweekly house cleaning, up to a certain number of hours of the services of a home organizer, and babysitting, to name a few.

There are also occasional social events where families can come together for fun activities. My daughter and I attended one of these events a few weeks ago; she met a couple of teenage girls her age who had lost their mom earlier this year. That evening I asked her about it, and she articulated the same feelings I had after I had gone on the Refuge widowers’ retreat. There was relief in meeting someone else like her who just “gets it,” without having to explain or describe, and a deep feeling of camaraderie in meeting other kids who have experienced a similar loss.

I’m going through the Family Friend training at the moment, and will also be training soon to serve as a parent services coordinator, assisting widowers with applying for the program. Having an opportunity to turn pain and grief into something I can use to reach out and help others is a profound way to find meaning and purpose in life, and to help me learn even more about the cross of being a widower.