Compassionate Support When Loss Feels Heaviest

Supporting individuals and families navigating grief, loss, and life-altering circumstances through compassionate peer connection.

Ontario Grief Support

Our Story

Life has a way of teaching us lessons we never asked to learn.

Far too often, those lessons come with the difficult task of piecing our lives back together after unimaginable loss.

When my fiancé died suddenly when we were only 25, I discovered that grief can be a strange and lonely place one where you can be surrounded by people who love you and still feel completely alone. Over time, I came to understand that loss does not only arrive with death. It can enter our lives through a life-changing diagnosis, a devastating injury, or any number of experiences that alter the world we once knew. Only the person living that loss has the right to measure the depth of its impact.

Lived experience is powerful. No book can fully explain what it feels like to care for a loved one with a life-limiting illness or to walk beside a child facing a life-threatening disease. Those who have spent nights lying awake when grief is the loudest when it feels like the rest of the world is asleep know that sometimes what we need most is not someone to fix it, but someone who simply understands. Someone who has walked their own path through loss and can sit with us in that space as a peer. 

Our Core Values

Compassion

We provide a safe and understanding space where individuals navigating grief and loss are met with empathy and genuine human connection.

Connection

No one should face grief alone, and our programs create meaningful peer connections that remind people they are not isolated in their experience.

Understanding

Through lived experience and shared stories, we offer support that comes from people who truly understand the realities of grief and loss.

Support

Our trained volunteers provide compassionate peer support during life’s most difficult moments, especially during the quiet hours when grief can feel overwhelming.

Community

We believe healing grows through community, bringing people together through programs, volunteers, and local fundraising initiatives.

Hope

Like a porchlight left on in the darkness, we aim to remind those grieving that comfort, care, and connection are always within reach.

“Sometimes what we need most is not someone to fix the pain, but someone willing to sit with us in it.”

Porchlight Program

A light left on when grief feels heaviest.

The Porchlight Program is being developed as a first-of-its-kind program in Canada, a free, peer-based nighttime support service available between the hours of 10 p.m. and 3 a.m., the hours when grief often feels the heaviest and the world can feel the quietest.

Porchlight will connect individuals navigating grief, loss, caregiving, or life-altering circumstances with trained peer supporters who bring both compassion and lived experience.

Sometimes what people need most is not advice or solutions, but someone willing to listen and sit with them in the difficult moments.
Porchlight aims to ensure that during the hardest hours of the night, no one has to feel alone. 

Building Something That Matters

We recognize that building something like this will not be easy. But seldom are the most important things in life.

We feel incredibly fortunate to be surrounded by dedicated board members and volunteers who share our belief that no one should have to face the darkest hours of grief alone. Their commitment, compassion, and willingness to serve are helping turn this vision into a reality.

The Porchlight Program will operate under the oversight of the Ontario Association of Grief, Bereavement and Loss, pending formal approval of the organization. Once approved, the Association will help ensure the program operates with clear policies, volunteer training, and ethical standards while supporting the long-term development of compassionate peer-based grief support across Ontario.

Ontario Grief Support

Community Fundraising

A significant portion of our fundraising comes through our weekly community auctions, where gently loved items are given a second life while helping support the development of Porchlight.

These auctions allow our community to come together in a meaningful way transforming donated items into resources that help build a program designed to support those navigating grief and loss.

We are deeply grateful for both financial contributions and donations of items that can be included in these auctions.

Items that are especially helpful include:
• Home décor and seasonal decorations
• Gift baskets or new gift items
• Jewelry and accessories
• Artwork, collectibles, and vintage items
• Handcrafted or artisan goods
• New or gently used purses and bags
• Gift cards from local businesses

Every donated item helps bring Porchlight one step closer to becoming a reality. 

How You Can Help

Porchlight is being built through the care and generosity of our community. There are many ways you can help bring this program to life.

Donate Items

Support our weekly auctions by donating gently loved items.

Participate in Auctions

Every bid helps build a program designed to support those navigating grief.


Become a Volunteer

Help provide compassionate peer support to individuals experiencing grief and loss.

Financial Donation

Financial support helps fund volunteer training, technology, and program infrastructure.

Frequently Asked Questions?

The Porchlight Program is a peer-based nighttime support service designed to connect individuals experiencing grief, caregiving challenges, or life-altering loss with compassionate volunteers between 10 p.m. and 3 a.m., when support is often hardest to find.

Porchlight is intended for anyone navigating grief, loss, caregiving responsibilities, or significant life changes who needs a compassionate person to talk with during difficult nighttime hours.

Yes. Volunteers will receive training to ensure they can provide safe, compassionate, and ethical peer support while drawing from their own lived experiences with grief and loss.

No. Porchlight is not a crisis intervention service. It is a peer support program focused on listening, understanding, and companionship, not clinical counseling or emergency response.

You can help by donating items for weekly fundraising auctions, making a financial contribution, participating in auctions, or volunteering your time to support the development of Porchlight.

A significant portion of funding comes from community auctions, where donated items are sold to raise funds for volunteer training, technology, and the infrastructure required to operate Porchlight.

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Ontario Association of Grief, Bereavement and Loss

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