Ignite Gala shines light on childhood grief support

Grief can be a lonely road, especially for kids. But at Myra’s Kids Foundation (MKF), they don’t have to walk it alone.

This Wednesday, MKF is hosting its annual Ignite Gala at La NESRA in Little Burgundy, raising funds to support programs that help children navigate the pain of losing a loved one.

This year, the foundation is honouring Ann Zilberbrant with the ‘Helping Us Grieve’ (HUG) Award for her commitment to making sure grieving children — including her own — get the support they deserve.

Zilberbrant has been a steady force in the Montreal community for more than two decades. She’s an occupational therapist, co-owner of AccessAbilities Therapy Clinic, and teaches at both CÉGEP and McGill University. Somehow, she also finds time to volunteer with several organizations.

But her most meaningful role is being a mom to Haylie, Tyler, and Allysen. In 2018, her husband, Lyle, died of colon cancer at just 40 years old.

“It really helped us kind of open up, especially the understanding that we’re not alone in our journey, that a lot of kids are also going through the same thing. So that kind of helped us talk about and go through our grief process,” said Tyler Goldsmith.

For the past five years, Zilberbrant and her children have been part of Myra’s Kids Foundation. She’s now a parent ambassador, and all three kids have found comfort, connection, and healing through the programs offered by MKF.

“Myra’s Kids Foundation has been such a crucial part of our family’s kind of going through the whole grieving process. It’s been such an important organization for my kids, especially. And getting this honor, I feel humbled to be recognized in such an amazing way of contributing to an organization that has helped us. So I think that’s wonderful,” said Zilberbrant.

“The blue butterflies is actually the representing children’s grief awareness. And what’s beautiful about this display here is that whoever comes into this event is able to write a name of somebody that’s important to them that they have lost, has passed away, has died,” said Zilberbrant.

MKF provides year-round support to children and their extended family by funding, initiating, and organizing programs aimed at supporting children dealing with grief.

“She didn’t only want to be a part of Myra’s Kids as a mom she also wanted to be a part of Myra’s Kids as a mentor to other families who had suffered the same type of loss that she had dealt with,” said Jon Reider, the founder and CEO of Myra’s Kids Foundation.

Every summer, they host a Summer Camp, where bereaved children can honour the memory of a special person who has died.

“The friends I made five years ago that have gone off and not come to camp, some have come back, I’m still in touch with every single one of them. Because you create that bond that no one can replace,” Hailey Goldsmith.