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2021 Annual Fund Appeal

Your Gift Brings Healing & Hope

Kara's annual fund appeal provides financial resources to support thousands of bereaved individuals and families in our Bay Area community. Challenged by the current COVID-19 pandemic climate, those who are grieving need care and connection more than ever. Your donation makes a healing difference.

2021 Annual Fund Appeal

Since 1976, Kara has been a caring friend for the community. We continue to adapt and innovate our grief support services since the pandemic began in 2020. Compared to pre-pandemic levels, we have seen an unprecedented 15% increase in requests for service as awareness of Kara grows and the effects of Covid-19 linger. Our staff and volunteers continue to offer safe space and critical healing – supporting bereaved children and adults through a hybrid model including telehealth and an increasing level of in-person services. View our appeal message to the right.

Elisa Odabashian, a recipient of Kara’s services and a current Board member, describes why Kara continues to inspire her:

Kara picked me up when I was at my very lowest. My wife Ash, our two kids, and I found Kara in the wake of the suicides of all three of my brothers. For years, Ash and I met with a Kara group grieving the suicides or murders of their significant others, while our kids met down the hall with the children who had lost their significant adults to suicide or murder. Over time, through the process of putting voice to my grief in the Kara group, I came to accept the tragedies, find a way to move forward and heal, and best of all, help others who were newly grieving. And our kids found a safe and loving place to express their feelings.

I’m delighted to serve on the Kara Board of Directors and to support Kara financially as a way of giving back just a bit of the light and healing it provided me and my family in the darkest of times.”

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Over time, through the process of putting voice to my grief in the Kara group, I came to accept the tragedies, find a way to move forward and heal, and best of all, help others who were newly grieving. And our kids found a safe and loving place to express their feelings.

Elisa

2021 Annual Fund Appeal

Odabashian Family

Thank you for contributing to our 2021 annual fund appeal! As illustrated in Elisa's sharing above and the additional testimonials below, your support provides grieving individuals and families the important space and connections that are beneficial in their journey toward renewed hope and meaning after loss. Your donations allow us to act on our guiding value of empathy and deliver hope and healing daily.

We are deeply grateful for your kindness and generosity.

Jim Santucci, CPA
Executive Director



  • Peer Client
    My grief counselor from Kara was exactly what i needed at the time i needed it. I had lost my only son, and she had as well, in the same way, there was nothing i could tell her that surprised her, all the terrible thoughts i was having , I felt so hopeless,  but she showed me that such a loss is survivable, and that life still will have meaning and gladness, at some point.
    Peer Client
  • Peer Client
    In the Irish language, the word for friend is Cara (but is pronounced like Kara). So when I think of Kara, friendship and love is what comes to mind...Thank you again, from the bottom of my heart, for all you have done for my family.
    Peer Client
  • Peer Client
    I can't imagine not having this experience. I feel it helped heal and transform my grief into a greater intention to honor all of my ongoing life through this beautiful wide awake lens of living and being present to the moment and meaning of life.
    Peer Client
  • Peer Client
    Kara helped connect me to a friend and someone to talk to.  It was very hard when everyone close was going through difficult times and family lives so far away.  Kara services connected me with a friend and a source or hope and comfort when I felt like I had no one.
    Peer Client
  • Peer Client
    I literally don’t know how I would have gotten through this past year without my group and my individual peer counselor. Having someone or a group of people who understood, on a weekly basis was invaluable.
    Peer Client
  • Peer Client
    My counselor accompanied me on the toughest journey I have ever had to take and without that support I know it would've been much tougher and taken me much longer to reach this point. I am so impressed by the support services offered by Kara. Thank you!
    Peer Client
  • Peer Client
    Kara is the only place I know where a grieving person can receive the kind of understanding and guidance, directly from a skilled person who has most likely had a similar experience in their own lives, on how to deal with the pain and suffering of a loss.
    Peer Client
  • Peer Client
    The agency is run professionally. The staff and facilitators are mature and experienced. There was no mandatory fee for services, but I was filled with gratitude and was more than willing to make a donation.
    Peer Client

As a 501(c)(3) non-profit Kara is eligible to accept bequests. Please consider including Kara in your will or trust. Our federal identification number is 94-2431483. Contact us at 650-321-5272.