How The Compassionate Friends started in the Philippines

Last November 27, 2005, Noemi Lardizabal-Dado emailed a second time the TCF National Office on how to  start a chapter in the Philippines. Margaret Pringle, the Chairperson of the recently-formed The Compassionate Friends (TCF) International Council emailed Noemi Lardizabal-Dado on November 30 the support and information needed to start the first chapter in the Philippines. To start a chapter, around 3 to 4 bereaved family members are needed and that the organizers should  be at least 2 years bereaved. She then contacted Cathy Babao-Guballa if she was interested to start a chapter and if she could invite other bereaved parents. An enthusiastic Cathy invited Alma Miclat who readily agreed. Senator Pia Cayetano, a mutual friend of Cathy and Noemi  was just as eager to join the cause of The Compassionate Friends Philippines.

The Compassionate Friends Philippines had its 3 founder family members on December 1, 2005, namely Atty. Luis Dado and Noemi Lardizabal-Dado, Hector Guballa and Cathy Babao-Guballa and Mario and  Alma Miclat . Read more about how TCF Philippines started at the Sunday Inquirer Magazine interview last January 8, 2005.

History of The Compassionate Friends

The Compassionate Friends was founded in Coventry, England, in 1969, following the deaths of two young boys, Billy Henderson and Kenneth Lawley, the previous spring. Billy and Kenneth had died just three days apart in the Coventry and Warwickshire Hospital where Rev. Simon Stephens was Assistant to the Chaplain. Simon mentioned Billy's death to Iris and Joe Lawley, and the Lawleys decided to send flowers to Billy's funeral. The signed the card simply, "Kenneth's parents," realizing that the Hendersons would know who they were.

Bill and Joan Henderson then invited the Lawleys over for tea, and an immediate bond was formed as the two couples spoke freely about their boys, sharing their memories and the dreams that had died with Billy and Kenneth. They continued to get together regularly, and young Rev. Stephens, then only 23, encouraged them to invite other newly bereaved parents to join them. In 1969, another grieving mother accepted their invitation to meet with Simon and the two couples. They decided to organize as a self-help group and actively begin reaching out to newly bereaved parents in their community. Because the word "compassionate" kept coming up, this new organization was called "The Society of the Compassionate Friends."

Simon became a chaplain in the British Royal Navy in the 70's. He was met by bereaved parents at ports around the world, and he helped them to develop their own chapters. TCF had become well-known through U.K. and U.S.A. editions of such magazines as Time and Good Housekeeping. Paula and Arnold Shamres of Florida read Simon's interview in Time Magazine and invited him to visit them in Florida and speak to bereaved parents there. He did, and the Shamres subsequently founded the first U.S. chapter in 1972. Word of the organization spread rapidly through interest generated by the Phil Donahue Show and the columns of Dear Abby and Ann Landers.

The Compassionate Friends was incorporated in the United States as a non-profit organization in 1978.

In 1989, The Compassionate Friends of Great Britain dedicated a plaque commemorating the founding of the organization, at the Coventry and Warwickshire Hospital where TCF had begun. The plaque was unveiled by their patron, Countess Mountbatten, herself a bereaved parent.

Then in November, 1994, Queen Elizabeth presented Iris Lawley with a medal, The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, in recognition of her work on behalf of TCF.

There are now Compassionate Friends chapters in every state in the United States—almost 600 altogether—and hundreds of chapters in Canada, Great Britain and other countries throughout the world. In the United States, chapters are open to all bereaved parents, siblings, grandparents and other family members who are grieving the death of a child of any age, from any cause.

The mission of The Compassionate Friends is to assist families toward the positive resolution of grief  following the death of a child of any age and to provide information to help others be supportive.