The Compassionate Friends is a national nonprofit, self-help support organization which offers friendship and understanding to families who are grieving the death of a son or daughter of any age, from any cause. We have learned that the death of our child has caused a pain that can best be understood fully by another bereaved parent.

TCF was founded in 1969. There is no religious affiliation. We are non-sectarian and multicultural. There are no membership fees or dues, and all bereaved family members are welcome.

The Oneonta, New York chapter of The Compassionate Friends is a non-denominational, self-help support group composed entirely of parents who have lost a son or daughter. There are no membership fees or dues, and all bereaved family members are welcome. We meet at 7:00 PM on the third Thursday of every month in the Dauley Room of the First United Methodist Church in Oneonta. Our meeting room is easily accessible from the Church Street entrance, the first meeting room on the left.

For some of us, TCF is a way to remember our children and to share memories and feelings with others who have experienced the same loss and can, therefore, better understand the emotions and feelings that accompany that loss. For some of us, the loss is recent; for others, it has been several years. Sometimes, parents who are farther along in their grief can share thoughts about what helped them to deal with the loss.There is no professional staff, just parents who have lost a child.

Knowing that all need love and support, we reach out as our own grief subsides, to those who still feel alone and abandoned.

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In Loving Memory of Kevin Derus Hickey

The Compassionate Friends,Oneonta Region Chapter