Brotherhood Is Medicine: How Broreavement Is Changing the Way Boys and Men Grieve | Podcasthon 2026

Grief and Light is proud to participate in Podcasthon 2026, the world's largest podcast charity initiative, joining podcasters across the globe to amplify the organizations doing work that the world needs to hear about. Learn more: podcasthon.org

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What happens when men are never given permission to grieve?

In this episode, we hear from Daniel Ratchford, founder and president of Broreavement, and Quaheem Brooks, two men who are building something life-affirming: a brotherhood for men and boys of color navigating the turbulent, often silent, experience of grief and loss.

Broreavement was born from personal pain and transformed into a mission. A mission to break the stigma around men's grief, create safe spaces for emotional expression, and prove that healing doesn't have to happen alone.

This episode celebrates the power of shared stories, safe spaces, and community efforts to heal grief and build resilience among men and youth. If this message resonates with you, consider supporting or joining Broreavement’s mission to expand the healing brotherhood.

This conversation explores:

• The origin story behind Broreavement and the loss that sparked it 
• Why men and boys of color are often the most underserved when it comes to grief support 
• How vulnerability, trust, and brotherhood become tools for healing 
• The role of everyday activities (like cooking, sports, art, finances, fishing) in creating connection
• Community programs like prom suit drives and after-school initiatives that offer hope to young people in grief 
• Their vision for taking Broreavement national, and eventually global 
• How you can support this work and create ripple effects of healing in your own community

This one is for every boy and man who was told to hold it together.

Resources & Links: 

• broreavement.org
• 🌟Donate Here🌟
• @broreavement

From workshops to recreational outings to educational resources, Broreavement meets men and boys where they are, offering practical tools, emotional guidance, and real community to those navigating the loss of a loved one. Because healing looks different for everyone, and support should too.

Transcript

Having a space for men to let down their guard is something that will help the whole world heal. So why couldn't we spread this across the world? Going through my experience and looking for groups has opened my eyes to the need that this is something that's needed all across the country and the world. You just lost your loved one. Now what? Welcome to the Grief in Life podcast, where we explore this new reality through grief-colored lenses.

Hello and welcome back to the Grief and Light podcast. My name is Nina Rodriguez and I'm your host. And this is a very special episode because this week, podcasters from all over the world are coming together for Podcast Thon. It is the world's largest charity initiative and Grief and Light is so proud to be a part of it.

Today I have the honor of introducing you to an organization with a mission aligned with our own in fostering a more grief-informed, hopeful world. Broreavement is a community of men navigating grief, specifically men and boys of color who have long been told to stay strong, keep moving, and hold it all together. Not here, Broreavement provides space for men and boys to heal in community.

And joining us today are Daniel Ratchford, the founder and president of Broreavement, who built this out of his own loss, which you'll hear about later, and Quaheem Brooks, who helps carry this mission forward. Gentlemen, it is my honor to welcome you to the Grief and Light podcast. Thank you so much, Nina. We appreciate it, being able to come on the platform and spread the message, spread what we're doing. So thank you. Absolutely. And it's a really powerful message. It's my honor to have you here.

people to hear where this came from, where this work and this purpose in your big why came from. You know, take us back to that moment as much or as little as you are comfortable saying today and what made you decide to build Broreavement from it? So this story started many years ago. I grew up with a young lady. Her name was Medina. And, you know, as we turned to teenagers, we

We began dating and eventually started a family together. And after she gave birth to my son, she was diagnosed with a rare blood disorder. And this blood disorder ruined her body and her mind, everything. She wanted to do different strokes and heart attacks and surgeries. Eventually she had her legs amputated.

Um, and just a lot of trauma through like for a 10 year stretch. in 2009, she passed away and she left, uh, myself and my two kids, you know, just carrying a lot of trauma and grief through all of those experiences. So, uh, I grew up in the Bronx being taught not to cry, to, to man up.

to just hold all your emotions in because it makes you look weak. I didn't know how to handle all of that grief. And at the same time, I'm trying to help my kids with their grief. it became a lot. So I did what I usually do, which is drink it away, smoke it away, bury it inside. And throughout years,

years, it just came out in different ways and anger and stress. you know, until one day, it was during the winter and the holidays were coming up and I was just butting heads with my kids. That became like the normal thing around the holidays when, when, you know, when you're missing your loved one. I was just loud in the holidays for sure. Yeah. just one day I was like Medina wouldn't

wouldn't our life to be like this, you know, so I kind of put my foot down and was like, life is better than this. Have to figure out something. So I actually separated myself from my kids and and tried to get help as healthy as I could possibly be. my body going to the gym, my mind reading and doing meditation and journaling and.

it eventually brought me to a space where I was journaling and writing everything that had happened in my life down on paper. this was a little bit after COVID, so we all had our group chats where we had all of our friends on it. So one day I got brave and I shared it with about 12, 13 of my guys. And out of those guys, only one person responded.

Not because they didn't love me or, you know, like they didn't understand because they knew everything that I had gone through. But I think they didn't know how to respond to what I had put on paper. But I was lucky enough to have that one friend who could courage me and say, yeah, this is good. It's dope. Keep on going. That's how Broreavement was started. Literally just like that. And that one friend is cute.

That's amazing and thank you for sharing the story. I'm so glad to have you both on this call because that is extra meaningful then. And I'm sorry for your loss, but I know that was a very succinct way of describing 10 long years of being a loved one decline over time and all that that means and how that reshapes your life, fatherhood and everything that comes after. So I see you and I thank you for bringing Medina into the conversation with us. We honor her through this conversation as well.

and her memory and we live in the context of a grief-averse, grief-illiterate society. So it does not surprise me that out of the amount of people that were there, only Q was the one that, you know, responded because most people either don't know how to or are incredibly uncomfortable. But you have the wherewithal to separate yourself to say, I have to get healthy first and I have to figure this out and I have to do something with it. A lot of people have that desire. What made you actually build?

the structure and the foundation to help others. When I was going through the loss of Medina, I was looking for a mentor. I was looking for a group. I was looking for just something to be a part of, a place where I would be heard, you know, and understood. And I was introduced to great people through churches, just people, you know, wanting to connect me, but...

I didn't see myself in any of those people. know, like I said, being born and raised in the Bronx, grew up in the 90s, hip hop music. You know, I was introduced to men who were much older than me, men who didn't come from where I came from, didn't look what I look like. So when I got myself healthy, I said, I want to kind of reach back and help men who were in my situation. You know, I was 29.

When Medina passed, we started a family at 19. So, you know, like from 19 to 29, I was a young man going through that. And I'm a little bit older now with the gray, but just being able to build that for someone who was going through something similar to me, you know, just having them having a space to go to what was important to me.

Absolutely. And I thank you for having that vision because I know that a lot of people are going to benefit from it. And I want to shift, Quaheem, to you to just get your perspective. What was it about that message that resonated so deeply with you and made you empathize with Daniel's story? What resonated with me was that at the time I was experiencing my own grief. Quick back story, I lost my son, Dijon.

in March of 2021, which is like right around coming out of COVID. he was diagnosed with epilepsy, his freshman year of high school, so about 14 years old. And he passed away when he was 20, suddenly in his sleep. They call it SUDEP. But it was so sudden and just shocking, like it's just a gut punch to the family. And I just experienced

so many different emotions during that time. And I couldn't express how I was feeling. Like was so numb. I was just numb. Like I just couldn't get it out. You know, I just couldn't get it out. So it was refreshing to see what he was able to put out to us. And it resonated with me, you know, a lot of those feelings and I can relate. And I was looking...

myself for something to pour into. Because I was just stuck. I was in a place of just a rut. I was just stuck in a rut trying to find an outlet or something to do with my time and being able to support him and his mission and his goal of creating world reading. And I was all aboard with it. So that's how that came about. My mom has always been active in the community doing service.

where we grew up. I've seen this my whole life, pouring back into people. So that is something that I witnessed from my mother. So all of this feels good. know, it just feels good. The mission is right. This comes from a good place. It's personal for us. And we're just trying to help people heal as we heal ourselves.

Yeah, it is a special part of the work is that it also serves us in our own healing. I'm really, really sorry about the loss of your son, especially so suddenly. I hear two different types of losses in the sense of one was prolonged and one was very sudden. My own brother died the day after his 32nd birthday. It was very sudden. And for the longest time, I wondered, would it have been better if I had the chance to say goodbye? You know, as painful as that may be. I no longer wonder that because they're both

awful in their own sense. know, a goodbye is a goodbye that we didn't want to say. So I'm deeply sorry and I thank you both for being open and sharing. And in the spirit of openness and sharing, this is a question for both of you, but how do you define vulnerability? And what does it mean to you, Daniel? I'll go to you first. Being able to let your guard down and

to not look at it as a weakness over these past couple of years, that has turned into my strength. I'm learning all of these emotions and experiences that I think that I'm going through by myself. There's tons and tons of people who go through these same things. So just being able to shout out loud what's going on with me, it's attracting my tribe, the people that I'm supposed to be in front of.

people that I'm supposed to be around. It's just becoming easier for them to hear me. So being vulnerable for me has turned into my superpower. Me, it's like just being the truest version of yourself. Just letting yourself be. I would like to believe that we're shining a light on something and a shift is taking place where it's normal. Now, we want it to be normal.

You know, we wanted to be safe. We wanted to be okay to express how you feel as men. It's okay to just show other emotions besides anger. You know, it's okay because we go through the same things that women go through as well. It's okay for the women to express how they feel and show those different versions of how they feel. But for men, it just always stigmatized with...

The only thing that was natural for me in the show and we felt comfortable with was anger. You know, we didn't even feel comfortable crying or anything like that. So, you know, these emotions that you go through, you can't bottle them up because then they will come out in other areas and it will come out so nice. It'll come out in a way that really doesn't depict your character, I want to say. yeah, I just feel like it's just being your truest self.

And we try to create that space for the people that we are in front of and holding that space that you're okay here. This is okay. This is for you. Let it out. I appreciate both definitions. It's strength, it's authenticity, it's connection, it's openness, and it's allowing more than just one emotion, which could be so damaging. And it comes up, like you said, Q and like...

other ways throughout your life that are not helpful. So thank you both for those perspectives. And how do you foster that sense of connection through Broreavement? What does that look like in practice? And how do you address children versus adult men? How do you cater to both communities? So I think what's cool about Broreavement is the programming that we do, we center it around a fun activity.

So we'll have cooking classes and the guys will come in and the camaraderie is building between the guys. We're talking about sports and, and, you know, just the things going on and, our lives are fun things. And as, as the, program goes on, I'll throw a question out there to the whole group and it becomes easier for them to open up because that camaraderie and that brotherhood has already been set. So one question will turn into.

an hour, hour and a half of conversation. And at the end we're being kicked out like, all right guys, it's time to go. But it's just amazing having a group of guys together. And then if you add in one woman, it kind of changes the conversation a little bit. But when it's just all guys, you know, they feel free to talk, to kind of just let their emotions go. And usually the person sitting to the left or the right of them has been through.

something similar or something the same and they can add a little different perspective to it that may help someone. So, you know, I think what we're doing is very special and having younger kids coming to the groups too. You know, a lot of times their dads bring them to the classes and them seeing a man open up emotionally for the first time is powerful. In our community, we usually don't have conversations like this unless it's in

a barbershop between a conversation about basketball or your favorite rappers or whatever, you know, like the serious conversations don't happen. So just exposing the young men to conversations that mean something early on, it's important. Something's forced. Sometimes people are just sitting there, won't say anything. But that doesn't mean that they're not getting anything from it. They're just not ready yet to share.

And that's okay. That's okay. It's just still that environment being in it and realizing that you're not alone, that there's others dealing with things as well. And also, you know, sometimes a son may not know what his father's going through. As men and the head of the household, where do we unload? Where do we unpack that? And sometimes your kids may not know what you're carrying or what's weighing on.

Saving things happen in each space and all. We're just happy to be able to hold it, host it. Early on when we first started doing this, I would get a little disappointed. know, oh, there was only two people who showed up. Oh, there was only one person. But I've learned that it's not about the amount of people who show up. It's about having that space, just there being a place for guys to go to and, you know, just to feel safe.

Creating those safe spaces is very important. A lot of guys don't feel that they have a safe space to come to. So what we're doing is very important. It truly is. holding that space, I think it was Q, you said that sometimes people just watch. They don't necessarily engage in the conversation. Can be just as powerful and healing and at least opens the door for that person to maybe in a near future be comfortable.

and get to a place where they can share as well. And I love that you said it doesn't matter if it's two people or 200 people, whatever, you trust the energy of what needs to take place that particular day and just offering the space and holding it consistently. I love what you've created. And I also saw on your YouTube channel that you mentioned cooking classes. I saw that that looked fun and you get to eat delicious food afterwards. why not? Who wouldn't want that? And also that you have other enriching programs like there's

art lessons, there's spoken word, there's, I think I saw finance classes. So how do you curate all of these different aspects? for example, even the finance one in particular stood out to me because I said, yes, most people wouldn't put grief and finance in the same sentence, and yet it's so linked and so important. So how do you curate these events? So a lot of it is really based upon the conversations that come out.

within the meetings, you know, we listen, we pay attention. We're engaged with what's happening in the community and what's happening amongst us. We don't offer advice unless asked, and we don't judge. But we do want to inform and educate and promote healthy coping skills with what we're going through. So we need to sit around those topics and things that we think would advance.

the people that come into what we're doing. Help them in their life somehow, or just give them a skill set or a tool to add to their toolbox. And something that's healthy, that doesn't cost, the things you could do at home with your family. Because sometimes you just need to be together. When you're going through it and you're in a tough spot, you just really need each other, really. Finding an activity or something you can do to bring that...

togetherness to where you don't feel alone. And then that also opens conversation when you're doing things together, a conversation against the flow and then to see how you're feeling where you're at. And hopefully they're able to practice these things in the household. And you're definitely giving them the tools and the language. And I noticed also in one of your videos that even with children, you ask what is grief and the default is, oh, know, mourning when somebody dies, right? For example.

our minds immediately go to the loss of a person, which is completely understandable because, yes, there's a lot of grief, of course, in men, and that's usually how most people get to know grief. But why does it feel important to teach the other side of grief, the everyday type of grief, and how do you help boys and men understand and see the grief that manifests in their life that has nothing to do with death necessarily? Yeah.

That's definitely the first thing that everyone thinks of when you mention the word grief is, you know, losing a loved one. But to me, the definition has expanded to just a loss of a relationship. It could be divorce. It could be incarceration. It could be homelessness. As men, we go through these losses every day and we are taught to just keep on going. Just keep on going.

And a lot of times, us as men, we don't get a chance to pause because we still have to provide. just letting these guys know that grief is more than losing a loved one, just bringing them awareness and how to get through some of these tough times and giving grace to yourself and figuring out healthier ways to get through it. Because us guys, we...

We always figure out a way to get through it and most of the time it's not the healthiest way. Just drinking and smoking in a way is not the answer. These conversations weren't happening back then and there was a lot of stigma, was a lot of judgment, was a lot of like you, you know, finger pointing like you need to get it together, you need to fix this, you need to do this. Whereas now it's, it's we, how do we get through this? How do...

we help each other and that shift is literally life saving in the more extreme cases and life affirming on an everyday basis. So definitely very powerful conversations. And I want to ask you, Danielle, I think you mentioned even if one woman is in the room, it shifts the conversation. I've experienced the other side of that. So with women's groups, if a man is in the conversation, it shifts the dynamic. So what felt important about allowing this group strictly for boys and men respectively?

Seeing that there's not too many groups, not too many healthy spaces for men to go to. Another example, during one of our cooking classes, it was during Father's Day weekend. So we got a bunch of guys in there, most of them with their sons, and just kind of asked, what else is going on this weekend for guys? And the room got quiet. You oppose that to Mother's Day weekend when...

You have like the vision boards, the brunches, all these different things going on for women. you know, guys usually around that time, Father's Day or whenever it's a time for them to be celebrated, it gets quiet. And sometimes the guys usually don't want to get celebrated. They probably don't know how to just sit back and enjoy those times. But I just thought it was really important to have a space for guys to.

be able to come to. We also hold some co-ed workshops. And the goal of that is to really have the women understand us a little bit and to learn how to communicate with us in a way where it doesn't allow us to shut down at times. A lot of times when men shear and they open up because they do feel safe and they do feel a connection with that person.

But if during that moment of vulnerability, if that thing is shifted and weaponized against them later on, like in an argument or something, that could just really destroy all communication and shut that person down and not feel safe for them to open up to you and you. You know, so it's important for us to learn how to communicate with one another, to keep it healthy.

in the household and just amongst one another. Cause you know, the goal is to be healthy. The goal is to have a healthy relationship. The goal is to have a healthy mind, feel good about one another and learn, just learn each other. Learn what keeps this man going, what he values. So you don't want him to be shut down and not share and not be as true as self to you.

So, you know, just learning how to do that amongst one another where it's not argumentative and it's a conversation. So we'll do different workshops and things like that. yeah. I heard loud and clear vulnerability needs to be met with understanding and it cannot be weaponized. The moment it becomes weaponized, communication is done. It's shut down. And because we don't have a lot of examples, even in media, like movies, TV shows, music, all the things, we don't have

A lot of examples of what effective communication and meaningful conversation looks like. It is important to start modeling it and having that bridge. sounds like those co-ed spaces function as a bridge. And let me ask you, where does Broreavement stand today and where do you see it going in the next few years? The sky is the limit for Broreavement. We're looking to become a national program. Why couldn't we do this all the way across the country? Why couldn't we do this all the way across the world? We're at a time where

Especially young men are struggling. You see teenagers inside the house all day, especially after COVID, where it's become normalized to sit in the room for hours and hours playing a video game, working, you know? I think having a space for men to let down their guard is something that will help the whole world heal. So why couldn't we spread this across the world? You know, going through my experience and looking for groups.

has opened my eyes to the need that this is something that's needed all across the country and the world. The goal is really to teach this emotional intelligence. We want people to be able to validate how they feel, to be able to process what they're going through. So if you're able to process what you're going through, you're able to slow it down and you don't act. You're not so reactionary.

to what's going on. And I think that's important with youth. Youth deal with so much in today's society that we want them to have a place to come and be able to say, listen, this is how I'm feeling today. This is where I'm at. And then we can unpack it and let them know, hey, it's okay to feel that way. There's nothing wrong with feeling that way. But now, how do we get you back on track? How do we work through that?

We're doing some after school programming and the school's coming up. We want to be able to eventually train some people on grief and the whole process of this, how to handle it, how to have the conversation. Pro-Readman has been in, what, I want to say two and a half years we've been at this. Made so many different connections in the community that we're proud of, we're strengthening, we want to get people help.

health, mind and body, know, educate them, these screenings, do all of these things. You know, you have to take these tests, go to the doctor, make sure that you're okay. So that's the way of trying to promote. Everything is about health and your mental health as well. There was an example of a young man in New York, in the New York City area. He

The story came out. He was on the subway and he was asking people for money and he was a little aggressive and he ended up getting killed on the subway. Another passenger jumped up and choked him. So I saw the story on the news, kind of read into it a little bit just to see how did how did he end up there? And the back story was as a young man, I think he was 12, 13 years old. He lost his mother. His mother was murdered.

And from that experience, he began to just spiral. And he ended up on the subway in that situation and two lives were changed through grief. And countless amount of people who were on the subway that day and saw that, all their lives were changed. And I just feel like if there was a space for him to go to, who knows?

You know, and yeah, it's very unfortunate. And we see it over and over and over again in our community that that just handling grief. There's young men who, you know, things happen and they don't know how to handle it. And like you said, anger is what comes out. And those five minutes of anger can change your life like that. You end up locked away for 15, 20 years because you didn't know how to process grief. You didn't know how to

deal with your anger and these things just change, change your whole life. Thank you both for those perspectives. After I lost my brother, I realized, my gosh, so much of what I'm feeling if somebody didn't know I experienced the loss would look angry and would look disjointed and it just wouldn't make a lot of sense. And then I think to myself, how many people have paid dire consequences because they were grieving and they were misunderstood from the outside looking and it looks confusing or like something's wrong.

So thank you for bringing that up and thank you for sharing your vision of not just being, you know, local, but expanding this education throughout the nation and empowering others to do the same and create these spaces. And for our listeners and people watching, could you tell us about where you're located? And if somebody's in the area, how could they work with you? What would engaging with Broreavement look like? So we're, we're located in Northern New Jersey and the New York City area. If anyone is interested in.

Joining one of our classes, rroreavement.org is our website. On all social medias, we are Broreavement. Perfect. And if somebody wanted to seek community or want to engage with it, like, what is the process for somebody to join and participate in one of your programs? So we normally have registration links for whatever we do. Tied to any one of our social media links or the website, you can have a registration link.

There's also a link there just if you just want to talk. If you want to reach out, if you're going through something and you just need an outlet, you can just throw a message out to us. I want to get back to you. And yeah, it's really that simple. So it's not we're not too hard to find. Yeah. The main thing is just showing up. All you got to do is show up. Just walk through the door. Make a seat. And all of our stuff is free for the most part.

Everything, majority of it is free. We just did some swim classes last weekend, free swim classes, thank you to the YMCA. We're partnering, we're really have our boots on the ground in these communities, we're making partnerships, we're doing things, we're stepping into new lanes, and we're trying to help the community to be honest.

I want to say it's a full circuit moment. I want to thank our parents. Fun fact is my mom, Lara, and Dan's mom, Chris, they are in our community. did the Boy Scouts together. They did the Boy Scouts together for years. They did the Boy Scouts together. know, them doing, showing that leadership and going out in the community and giving back and now look at us here. know, so sometimes, you know, what you see.

you know, can manifest in what you become. So I really want to thank them. And they also help us out tremendously in what we do here. And I know, Nina, you're down in Florida, correct? Correct, South East Florida. So we're always looking to expand this, you know, to make different connections. What we like to do is guy activities. So we've done paintballing. Fishing is one of our favorite things.

We've been running the fishing trips for two years now and that's expanding. So if there are groups out there who are looking for other groups to connect, like please reach out and we're always looking for fun things to do. Some of the healing process started for me, just being able to go out and be with the guys. one of the things that we love to do was go to football games.

You know, so we would take a trip out to Colorado, a trip out to Arizona, you know, just to kind of do those things. And that's, that was part of my healing journey, realizing, yo, this is what I like to do. Exposing myself to something different and, you know, having the guys around to enjoy that experience with me, you know, was healing. So we're always looking for fun things to do. So if there are groups out there, please feel free to reach out. Yeah.

Absolutely. thank you for sharing that aspect as well, because maybe somebody is listening and they have the perception that like, well, I don't want to talk about grief all the time, or I don't want to be sad and mopey with a bunch of guys. Like, what is the point of that? it sounds like that's, and correct me if I'm wrong, that's one aspect of the entire time that you spend together and the camaraderie and the community aspect of it and the learning and come on fishing, football.

like art, music, and food, all the things. So it sounds like it really is a lot of fun and in that you have space to share. Yeah. One of the things I'm most proud of out of the groups that we have, it has broken off into smaller groups where the guys have grown into leaders. They've always had it inside of them, but they saw what we were doing and would say, okay, well, I found my purpose too. So there's been other nonprofits created.

Starting with us. There's faith groups that have been started through our groups and you know It's just branching off into so many different things all positive stuff, know, so I'm proud of I'm proud of that. Yeah Definitely a reason to feel proud and I think that's ultimately the best I don't know if compliment is the right word but like the biggest point of satisfaction is seeing somebody so empowered and Standing strong in their ability to navigate all that life throws at them that they can even build their own I think that is

a beautiful ripple effect of the work that you're doing. And you have some special initiatives related to podcast on that you would like to talk about. So I want to give you the space to share about any upcoming events or any upcoming fundraisers that you would like our audience to know about. Zephy started the podcast on for the month of March. thank you, Nina, for inviting us on. the program that we are

looking for donations for is last year we ran a prom suit drive. We partnered with Macy's and we were able to get 26, 27 young men, brand new suits, shirt, tie, shoes. So they're able to go to the prom and not have to worry about that financial burden. It was a very beautiful event, you know, just to see the boys dressed up and.

to look at themselves in the mirror and see something different, something positive, put a smile on their face. My dad pulled me aside. was like, I've never seen you smile this much. It was a proud moment to see all of that come together. We were able to raise over $10,000. And all of the money went to the boys and getting them prepared for prom. This year, we're looking to do even better, to raise...

$15,000 to expand this. My kids, after the loss of their mom, school wasn't easy for them. I asked them, did the guidance counselor pull you guys to the side and talk to you guys about your mom? They're like, no, that didn't happen. So to be able to reach back to the schools, to the seniors and say, hey, we see you. We know that getting through high school wasn't easy, but we have this for you. We see that you've gone through this.

And to be able to give back to them is powerful, you know, and hopefully they take that and don't forget to give back to. But the Prom Suit Drive is our main initiative right now that we're trying to garner as many donations as possible. If you go on our website or our YouTube page, we do have some of the highlights from the Prom Suit Drive last year. And yeah, we're looking for that.

to be a successful platform. And of course that will be linked in the show notes. And I want to paint a picture for our listeners and anybody watching that have teenagers going through some of the most difficult moments in their life, major losses, loss of a parent, loss of a sibling, loss of that stability that they had in their home and bringing these moments of joy. I am a firm believer that these moments of joy, connection and community.

are what get us through the thing called life, and especially as somebody whose life has been destabilized as a young person. So having a prom suit that's given to them and that moment of, know what, I look good, I'm having a good time, I'm connecting with my peers, I'm having this really like right passage that I get to enjoy is a huge deal. I don't know if it was Quaheem, Daniel that said earlier, we do all of these things for free, but free is never free.

You have the ability to offer these things for free because of the partnerships and all the things that you have created. But if somebody wanted to support that work so that you can keep providing the space in this capacity, how can they support your work in addition to the drive? Yeah, so we have a donation link on our website at Revenue.org so you can go there. Also, just reaching out to us through a Facebook, Instagram, things like that.

So we're on all the platforms, LinkedIn, everything. So yeah, we have a donation link where you're able to just tap in and make a donation and all proceeds go to our programming. And this came about, I saw that there was a prom dress drive for the young ladies. You you see that all the time. And I'm just thinking, what about the prom suits for the boys? So, you know, we started reaching out to our friends and families. Hey, you guys have suits? You have suits?

And we went to Macy's to see if they could possibly donate or shoot it to some of the kids in the program. And they were like, let's do this bigger. Let's do this bigger. Let's see what we can do. And this is what it's turned into. So yeah, we're looking forward to it. You know, it's definitely one of our staples and all the help that you guys can give, please, please help us. And we're getting to the end here. I want to be mindful and respectful of your time.

I do want to ask you, I'll start with you, Daniel, what would you say to the Daniel that lost his wife at the time, facing life as a single father now with two kids and the responsibility and the grief and all the life changes that come, what would you say to that version of yourself today? Lean into that pain. Don't hide it. The strength that you have is through on the other side of that pain.

Don't be afraid to just show who you are. I've found myself going through the experiences that I've been through in my life. And I've always been a man, but being able to have these experiences and follow my passion, I have made so many different connections and the connections are meaningful. Just hearing from my father, like what I was saying before, I'm proud of you.

this, what you're doing is important. You know, it's given me such a boost from other men just saying, this is important. Thank you for this. You know, it has filled me up, you know, with pride and makes all of the pain that I've been through meaningful. So I would say just lean into that pain and what's on the other side of that pain is what it's about. Thank you. That's beautiful advice to lean in. Absolutely. And I agree. The way through is by leaning in.

And Quaheem, I'll go to you. What would the version of you today say to the version of you those years after losing your son? Release it. Get it out. Release that pain. Release those emotions that you're feeling. Even if it's just speaking into yourself in the mirror, try to find a way to express how you're feeling and what you're going through. Don't be afraid to ask for support and help. I was very fortunate to have an abundance of help.

and support, but I know that there are others who don't have that. So I would like them to know that, you know, life is beautiful. Life is worth living. You will get through it. Hopefully you'll get through it where it doesn't burn you and destroy you too much. Life is worth living. Life is definitely worth living and is more to it than just what you're experiencing right now. Thank you both for your beautiful words and your reflections.

Is there something that maybe we didn't touch on that you would like included in this conversation? And if not, we can go ahead and wrap it up. Nina, I wanted to say to you, sorry for your loss. I know we just met and you being able to have this platform with the grief and light is I'm sure like you feel like it's your purpose and I see you and keep on going.

because this is great. We appreciate being able to come here and just spread the message. So thank you. It's well received and this is not easy. And also it's a beautiful way to channel all of this into something purposeful and in service of others. So I see that in you as well. Quaheem, if there's anything you wanted to say before we close out, the floor is yours.

Once again, just want to echo about our thank you for allowing us to come on the platform, These spaces are needed. This is hard topics to speak about, but it's necessary. So thank you for having this platform and thank you for having us. That's an absolute honor. Thank you so much.

And with that, we close out the conversation. If you are interested in more information about Broreavement, all of the links will be in the show notes, including how to support their current fundraiser and other activities so that they can keep serving and growing their mission. Daniel, Quaheem, thank you so much genuinely for the work that you're doing. Broreavement is proof that healing doesn't have to happen in isolation. The Brotherhood is its own kind of medicine.

So if anything you heard today resonated with you, I encourage you to find Broreavement and support the work however you can. To everybody listening, thank you for being part of podcast on with us. Every time you press play on an episode like this one, you are choosing to care and that matters. Hope we'll see you in the next episode. That's it for today's episode. Be sure to subscribe to the Grief and Light podcast. I'd also love to connect with you and hear your thoughts and your stories.

Feel free to share them with me via my Instagram page at griefandlight. Or you can also visit griefandlight.com for more information and updates. Thank you so much for being here, for being you, and always remember, you are not alone.