Orange County teen uses her grief journey to help other children experiencing loss

An Orange County teenager is helping other kids experiencing loss by drawing on her own grief journey to create a nonprofit program that uses grief-based crafts and physical games to help with healing.

Sophia Donald lost her father, Jerry, when she was 5 years old. He suffered a heart attack during a business trip and never came home.

She's now 17. Three years ago, she published a grief workbook called "Lemons to Lemonade." That grew into a nonprofit program hosting free summer camps and monthly peer meetups

"They say, 'Oh, they're so young, they're not going to remember; this isn't going to affect them.' But that's just not true," Donald said.

She says she was confused and didn't have the vocabulary to handle her feelings until she went to a free children's grief counseling center in her hometown of Memphis, Tennessee.  

"After moving here to Orange County to be closer to my mom's family, I realized that they didn't have any grief support for children," Donald said.

Greyson and Bennett Pasqualetto designed colorful frames at one of the camps for their family photos. They lost their father, Matt, to cancer last year. They miss his quirkiness.

"He would always know the randomest things … like strawberries are actually melons if you're talking scientifically," the brothers said.

Certified grief counselor Colleen Cherry says one in 12 children will have experienced the death of a close relative by the time they turn 18. 

"When we are dealing with the trauma, it actually changes our brain's chemistry," Cherry said.

Children's grief counseling is generally not covered by health insurance, unless it's tied to a diagnosable mental health condition, making events like those offered by Lemons to Lemonade critical.

"They have to know that life will be different, but they still can continue a lot of the typical behaviors that they have participated in previously," Cherry said.

Before Sophia heads off to college to become a child advocacy attorney, she's set up a teen leadership team to keep the program going. As her father taught her, grief isn't about a one-time loss, but a continuous journey.

"I made it my life's mission to carry on his legacy and live a life as he did," Donald said. "I experienced this loss, but look at me now; I'm happy, I'm thriving."