What We Do

“Our mission is to help provide grief counseling and bereavement support services to children and teens who have experienced the loss of a parent or a loved one, regardless of the circumstances of the death”.

A Little HOPE, Inc. a not for profit, publicly supported charitable foundation was founded in early 2002, as a personal response to the World Trade Center tragedy by Whitney Siderman Michaels. Whitney was on her honeymoon with her husband Evan on September 1l, 200l, far from her desk on the 104th floor of the World Trade Center’s North Tower. Most of the people with whom she worked died during the attacks. As she attended numerous memorial services, she witnessed many bereaved children now having to face a new reality – life without their mother or father – and wanted to find a way to offer them hope for the future. As a tribute to her friends who perished, Whitney and her husband Evan Michaels founded A Little Hope.

The Board of Directors led by President Richard H. Schimel, are all highly regarded individuals in their respective fields of Accounting, Advertising, Finance, Hedge Fund Management, Hospitality, Information Technology, Insurance, Investment Banking, Law, Marketing, Public Relations and Publishing. Amy Liebman-Rapp, M.S. Ed,CT, a nationally known child and adolescent bereavement specialist, certified in Thanatology and a strategic planning, development and management professional, became a consultant to the organization in March 2002.