Long Island Giving Help Together For Charity is my column where I shine a light on a different Long Island-based charity each month.
For this column, I focus on an organization doing meaningful work for our community’s children and families: SIBSPlace: Survivorship in Brothers and Sisters.
SIBSPlace is a not-for-profit organization affiliated with Mount Sinai South Nassau. The organization provides free support for children who have a brother, sister, or parent with cancer or other devastating medical illnesses.
SIBSplace has professional staff trained to explore the circumstances these children face, helping them sort out their feelings, and allowing them to develop coping skills essential to their own well-being.
Since opening in 2000, SIBSPlace has provided therapeutic creative arts activities, age-based peer support groups, homework support, anticipatory grief support groups, parental support groups, dinners, socialization opportunities, family engagement events, and more.
For example, one of SIBSPlace’s most impactful initiatives is ‘Camp SIBS,’ a six-week summer program that takes place on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays.
SIBSPlace promotes resiliency while improving emotional vocabulary, self-expression, and self-awareness. Participants are provided with opportunities for empowerment to help build self-esteem and self-worth.
In recognition of the fact that hospital experiences can be stressful and traumatic, SIBSplace offers a ‘Child and Family Life’ program that provides a safe and non-threatening environment to prepare a child for upcoming hospital procedures, provide emotional support and reduce anxiety.
A child and family life specialist at Mount Sinai South Nassau is available to assist children throughout their family’s stay.
SIBSPlace also supports parents of children diagnosed with a traumatic illness. As children depend on their parents to help them feel secure, SIBSPlace created a parental support group, meeting each Thursday evening, and led by a mental health professional, to navigate the complexities and emotional toll of supporting a child with a traumatic illness.
The support group allows parents to share their stories, reduce feelings of isolation, gain support from peers, discuss medical concerns, develop strategies to discuss medical information with children in an age-appropriate manner, express and gain understanding of feelings of guilt and anger, help their well children to feel safe, develop coping skills, and plan for their families’ future.
If you’d like to help SIBSPlace, you can donate funds or volunteer your time. SIBSPlace accepts monetary donations and gift certificates to local restaurants and entertainment facilities. Individuals aged 15 and older can also volunteer on Tuesday or Thursday afternoons and evenings.
Volunteers may assist with homework support, mailing and other administrative duties, engaging in games with participants, assisting staff in maintaining an environment for programs, and more. For more information, or to donate funds or volunteer your time, visit the SIBSPlace website at www.sibsplace.org.
Kayla Donnenfeld, shining a LIGHT for Charity
kdonnenfeld26@roslynschools.org
Kayla Donnenfeld is a junior at Roslyn High School
