She lost her dad when she was 14. Now, she’s helping kids learn how to mourn.

Her cause:

Mary Robinson founded the nonprofit Imagine, A Center for Coping with Loss in 2011 to help children deal with all the emotions that come from the death of a loved one. At the center, kids learn how to deal with their grief with other children who have lost a parent, brother or sister.
Through games or arts and crafts activities, children and teens are encouraged to open up and share with the volunteer facilitators. A realistic hospital room gives children whose parents suffered long-term illnesses a unique way to work through their feelings, while others let off some steam in the “Volcano Room” with its padded walls, pillows for punching and books for ripping.

What inspired her:

Robinson founded the center to create what she didn’t have after her father died from cancer when she was 14. As a result, her grades dropped, she quit her activities and became withdrawn.
“It looked like bad behavior … But it was a textbook example of a grieving child,” Robinson said. “I wasn’t a bad kid. I was a sad kid.”
Robinson struggled until she got help in her late 20s. Eventually, she began volunteering at a children’s grief support group and nearly two decades ago, she quit her job to devote herself to the work full-time.
“I really do this work to make sure other kids don’t lose years of their life to unresolved grief,” she said. “The death of a parent is really a trauma for a child. But it doesn’t have to leave a child traumatized if they get support.”

She has already won $10,000 for her cause and stands to win $100,000 if voted number one.

Learn more about her – https://www.cnn.com/2019/03/14/health/cnnheroes-mary-robinson-grief-loss-death-of-a-parent/index.html

All 10 finalists – https://www.cnn.com/specials/cnn-heroes