Volunteer as a Peer Companion or Event Host
No clinical background required — only a willingness to show up and be present with families in grief.
We are always looking for compassionate people to serve as peer companions, event hosts, and community connectors. Moving families from grief to grace through community connections — and you can be part of that work.
Why Volunteer With Embrace Foundation
Embrace Foundation is a community of survivors, advocates, and healers committed to walking alongside bereaved families in Western North Carolina — not ahead of them, not above them, but beside them.
Our programs are built on lived experience, not assumptions. Bereaved parents are not just participants in our community — they are co-designers, advisors, and leaders of it. This is what we call Community Power: the people closest to this loss are closest to the solutions.
We also practice Bold Compassion. Compassion without action is sympathy. We lead with care and act with courage — naming the hard things, sitting with uncomfortable truths, and advocating for families who deserve better from their healthcare systems and their communities. As a volunteer, you embody that same commitment every time you show up.
The people closest to this loss are closest to the solutions. Our programs are built on lived experience, not assumptions. Bereaved parents are not just participants in our community — they are co-designers, advisors, and leaders of it.
— Embrace Foundation Core Values
Volunteer Roles
Every role is grounded in presence, not expertise. You do not need a clinical background — only a generous heart.
Peer Companion
Walk alongside a bereaved family with the quiet, steady presence that only someone who truly “gets it” can offer. Peer companions provide emotional support, check-ins, and a consistent connection point for families in the early and ongoing stages of grief. No scripts. No clinical expertise. Just showing up.
Time commitment: Flexible, ongoing
Event Host
Help create and hold the sacred spaces at our Bereavement Support Circles, remembrance gatherings, Wave of Light ceremonies, and memory-making workshops. Our gatherings are kept intentionally small to honor the vulnerability of grief. Event hosts help families feel welcomed and cared for from the moment they arrive.
Time commitment: Event-based
Community Connector
Extend the reach of Embrace Foundation by building relationships with providers, community organizations, and other networks across Western North Carolina. Help ensure that families who are struggling after a loss — recently or years ago — know that support exists and how to find it.
Time commitment: Flexible
The Culture You’re Joining
We want every volunteer to feel prepared, supported, and grounded in our values. Here is what guides all of our work — and yours.
Trauma-Informed
Safety, choice, and compassion guide every interaction. We understand that grief affects the whole person — emotionally, physically, and relationally. We meet families where they are, not where we think they should be.
Grief-Literate
Grief is not a problem to be solved. It does not follow a straight path, a set of stages, or a timeline. We honor every family’s way of grieving — and we hold space for grief that changes and evolves over time.
Community-Rooted
Built by and for Western North Carolina families, our work is grounded in lived experience. The people closest to this loss are the ones who know best what families need — and they are at the center of everything we build.
Other Ways to Support Our Work
Share Our Work
Tell your community about Embrace Foundation. Share us with your OB, your midwife, your doula, your hospital social worker. Awareness is how we reach the families who don’t yet know that support exists.
Refer a Family
If you know a family who is struggling after a loss — recently or years ago — you can refer them to us. Referrals can come from providers, friends, family members, or the families themselves. We will reach out with care, without pressure, and with no expectation about what they are ready for.
Get Involved
Ready to Walk Beside a Family?
No clinical background is required — only a willingness to show up and be present with families in grief. Reach out and let us know you’re interested. We’d love to welcome you.