Founder, Roberta’s House

Annette March-Grier helps Baltimore’s grieving children heal after a relative’s death. Many kids face this trauma since Baltimore is a violent place. Yet the city has few resources to help them cope. “It is no secret that grief has become a public health problem,” March-Grier says. That’s where she steps in as a bereavement counselor and registered nurse. Since 2008, her organization, Roberta’s House, has provided grief support to more than 2,300 children and families who have lost a loved one. They’re much like the grieving people she watched while growing up in her parents’ funeral home, where she often heard her mother comfort grieving families. “She was the epitome of compassion, and she taught me that,” March-Grier recalls. Now she passes on these lessons in kindness through seven different programs, including educational workshops and volunteer training, internships for mental health professionals, and peer support groups for high-risk teens who have suffered multiple losses. “Unresolved grief can cause people to go through life severely wounded,” she says. “Our goal is to help people understand that grief does not have to destroy them.”