Difference Makers: Helping families cope with losing loved ones

Pamela White made it her mission to help her community when she founded Empowering Kingdom Growth (EKG) with the goal of empowering, educating and encouraging everyone.

However, tragedy struck her life two years, which created an extension of EKG that involved helping others try to get through some of the toughest times of their lives.

White said after her son was murdered in 2020, she got a message that helping families grieve with healing and hope is what part of her next chapter would be.

“The morning we were burying my son, I was woken up,” she recalled. “I’m very spiritual. I was awakened to God basically telling me that ‘At about four o’clock in the morning, that this is what I will be doing.’ I didn’t necessarily agree with it at the moment because this was the morning we were burying my son, but a couple of months later, I actually started the first gathering with about six or seven mothers in my home. We buried my son in January of 2020 and March 2020, right before the pandemic got started, I met with six or seven mothers in my home.”

White said her son’s death birthed “Grieving with Grace,” which is a part of EKG that focuses on helping families grieve. The organization hosts smaller grief gatherings in Tangipahoa Parish every other month. She said she also visits other communities when invited. The second “Grieving with Grace” conference is scheduled for Nov. 12 at the Police Union Hall in Hammond.

According to White, the event consists of empowerment, life coaching, professional counselors, personal testimonies and more.

“There are life coaches that are there to help people to find their purpose in what they’re going through,” White said of the upcoming conference. “Everything is intended for people to leave away with a little bit more knowledge, feeling a lot more hopeful and a little bit stronger. They can look around and see that they’re not alone, that there are other people that are experiencing some similar situations.”

To register for the Nov. 12 event, visit http://www.weareEKG.com.

White said they are looking for counselors, therapists or anyone who could help provide resources at the conference that would be helpful to those attending.