William's Be Yourself Challenge

William's Be Yourself Challenge It takes courage to be yourself. The challenge is to walk your own path, to remember with joy, and to honor with love.

WBYC is dedicated to community events that bring people together for authentic, meaningful connection.

$212,000 in two months. 💚$127,000 in July.$85,000 in August.For our small grassroots organization, that kind of support ...
08/27/2026

$212,000 in two months. 💚

$127,000 in July.
$85,000 in August.

For our small grassroots organization, that kind of support is incredible.

And somewhere in the middle of these last two months, something else happened:

We crossed $1 MILLION raised for The Green House.

One million dollars because people believe that grieving families deserve somewhere to land after their world has changed.

A place to rest. To be together. To remember. To laugh. To cry. To breathe. To simply be a family without having to explain their grief.

That is what you are helping us build.

Every donation. Every share. Every introduction. Every person who has told someone else about this dream.

It is working.

We have a house. We have a community behind us. And we are getting closer and closer to opening the doors to grieving families.

More than $1 million raised. And we’re not done yet.

Please keep sharing The Green House. Help us find the next person who believes in what we’re building.

Look what we’re doing together. 💚 Follow along The Green House Retreat .

08/23/2026

Right now, it’s just a fireplace.

Part of a house we’re renovating.

But someday, I imagine a family gathered around it.

Maybe they’ll play cards on the floor.

Maybe a child will curl up nearby with a book.

Maybe two parents will sit here after everyone else has gone to bed and finally have the conversation they haven’t had time or space to have.

Maybe they’ll talk about the person who died.

Maybe they’ll tell a story about them that makes everyone laugh.

Maybe they’ll say nothing at all.

That’s the strange and beautiful thing about this stage of The Green House.

We’re standing in the before.

Right now, we see construction projects and design decisions and a fireplace that needs some love.

But someday, none of that will matter.

It won’t be the fireplace we renovated.

It will be the place where a family sat together on a Tuesday night.

Where someone warmed up after a walk.

Where a child fell asleep on the couch.

Where a story was told.

Where someone cried.

Where everyone laughed.

Where, for a little while, they were simply a family spending an evening together.

We don’t know who the first family will be.

We don’t know their story yet.

But we’re building this place for them.

One little corner at a time.

Follow along The Green House Retreat as we build our retreat.

Someday, this will be someone’s week.

08/15/2026

Sunday, we run. 💚

We run for William.
We run for every grieving family who needs to know they are not alone.
And we run for The Green House, so families navigating the death of a child or parent have a place to land, breathe, and simply be together.

Bodhi got the chance to leave our mark on the pace car for the Numbers for Nonprofits runners at the Falmouth Road Race. And he knew exactly what to write.

“Will is the most powerful force in the universe.” (From Green Lantern, ifkyk)

And Will’s color is green.

So Sunday, we run as Team Green. 💚

For William.
For every family carrying someone they love.
For The Green House.

Let’s go, Team Green. 🏃‍♀️💚

08/13/2026

Sometimes The Green House has gotten so big that I have to remind myself where it started.

Not with a house.

Not with a fundraising goal.

Not with a nonprofit.

With a nine-year-old boy named William.

William died in 2019.

And in the years since, our family has learned more about grief than I ever wanted to know.

We’ve also learned an extraordinary amount about community.

People showed up for us when we couldn’t show up for ourselves.

They fed us.

They sat with us.

They said William’s name.

They remembered important days.

They loved our living children.

They let us laugh without assuming we were “better.”

They let us cry without trying to make us stop.

And, maybe most importantly, they stayed.

That experience planted a seed I couldn’t see at the time.

Because when I started imagining The Green House, I wasn’t really imagining a house.

I was imagining that feeling.

What if we could give another grieving family the feeling that they aren’t carrying this alone?

The house is simply where we’re going to put it.

This weekend, 23 people will run the Falmouth Road Race for The Green House.

There will be shirts and cheering and finish lines and lots of photographs.

But before all of that, I wanted to remember the little boy who started it.

William taught us to Be Yourself.

And this beautiful, growing community is helping us carry that message forward.

We are so grateful you’re here.

Tell us how you found The Green House. Were you William’s friend? A neighbor? A runner? A grieving family? Did someone share a post with you? Have you been here since the beginning, or did you just arrive? Introduce yourself below.

08/12/2026

On Sunday, 23 people will run the Falmouth Road Race for The Green House.

But there are a whole lot more than 23 people on this team.

There are the spouses rearranging Sunday morning.

The friends who donated $20.

The person who shared a runner’s fundraising page.

The kids who will make signs.

The people who will stand along the course and yell our names.

The volunteers who have helped us get here.

The person who told a friend about The Green House at dinner.

The person who follows this account and quietly thinks, I really hope they pull this off.

You count too.

I think sometimes we make “helping” feel too big.

We think we need to write a giant check.

Run seven miles.

Volunteer every weekend.

Have some particular skill to offer.

But communities aren’t built only through big gestures.

They’re built through hundreds of tiny decisions to care.

That’s how The Green House has gotten this far.

And that’s how it will keep going.

On Sunday, 23 people will cross a finish line.

But there will be an entire community behind them.

And if you’re reading this, you’re already part of it.

Tell us where you’re cheering from. Leave a 💚 and your town in the comments.

08/09/2026

There are 23 people training to run the Falmouth Road Race for The Green House.

And I keep thinking about how extraordinary that actually is.

Most of them will never meet the families who eventually stay here.

They won’t see the mom drinking coffee quietly on the porch.

They won’t know the child who discovers that it’s still okay to laugh.

They won’t hear the conversations that happen around the dinner table or know which family finally slept through the night.

And yet, they’re running for them anyway.

That is what has surprised me most about building The Green House.

Again and again, people have decided to care deeply about people they may never know.

They run.

They volunteer.

They introduce us to someone who can help.

They share our story.

They tell their friends about this slightly crazy idea to create a free retreat home for families after the death of a child or parent.

That is how this house is being built.

Not by one family.

Not by one organization.

By a community that has decided grieving families deserve somewhere to land.

In one week, 23 members of that community will cross the starting line in Falmouth.

Kai and I will be two of them.

And I think I’m going to spend those seven miles thinking about all the families who will someday cross a different starting line when they walk through the doors of The Green House.

We’re running for you.

Leave a 💚 below for our 23 runners. Let’s make sure they know how many people are cheering them on.

08/03/2026

I’ve been thinking a lot about the word community lately.

It’s easy to think of community as the people you know.

Your neighbors.
Your friends.
Your family.

But this project has expanded my definition.

Our community includes the person who made a $10 donation because they believed in the idea.

The volunteer who spent a Saturday pulling up carpet.

The runner training for the Falmouth Road Race.

The person who shared one Instagram post with someone they thought needed to see it.

The contractor who offered expertise.

The donor who quietly gave without wanting recognition.

Most of these people have never met each other.

And yet they’re connected by one belief:

Grieving families deserve more than sympathy. They deserve space, care, and community.

One day, families will arrive at The Green House and feel deeply welcomed.

That feeling won’t come from the furniture or the walls.

It will come from the thousands of acts of kindness that built this place.

Thank you for being part of this story.

You may never meet the families who stay here.

But your kindness will.

💚

⸝

I’d love to know: How did you first hear about The Green House?

Were you introduced by a friend? Did you find us on social media? Have you been following since the very beginning?

Tell us in the comments. I’d love to see how this community has grown.

When William died, I realized something that surprised me.There were people who loved us deeply.There were meals, cards,...
07/30/2026

When William died, I realized something that surprised me.

There were people who loved us deeply.

There were meals, cards, flowers, and kindness.

But there wasn’t a place.

A place where our family could step away from the demands of everyday life.

A place where grief didn’t need explaining.

A place where we could wake up without a schedule, take a walk in nature, cook dinner together, and let our hearts catch up with what had happened.

That’s the vision behind The Green House.

We’re not building a place that promises to fix grief.

Grief isn’t something to fix.

We’re building a place that says:

“Come exactly as you are.”

Over the next year, you’ll see construction updates, design decisions, volunteer stories, and the inevitable challenges that come with renovating an old house.

But beneath all of that is one simple hope:

That every family who walks through the front door feels seen, cared for, and never alone.

Thank you for being here at the beginning. You’re helping build more than a house. You’re helping create a community that believes grieving families deserve space to breathe.

⸝

If you could add one thing that would help someone feel immediately at peace when they walked through the front door, what would it be?

I’d love to hear your ideas. Many of them may find their way into The Green House. Learn more and donate on our website, in bio.

07/23/2026

I’m the Executive Director of a nonprofit in the middle of a major capital campaign.

Confession: I don’t love fundraising galas.

I’d rather skip the cold chicken dinner, the silent auction, and the fancy ballroom.

I want people to give because they believe in what we’re building.
Because they see the vision.
Because they want to be part of a community that’s changing the way grieving families are cared for.

That’s the kind of philanthropy I believe in.
One built on connection, not obligation.

If our vision for The Green House speaks to you, I’d love for you to be part of it. Every gift, every share, every conversation helps us get closer.

Come build this with us. 💚

07/20/2026

An estimated 6.6 million children in the United States will experience the death of a parent or sibling before they turn 18.

That’s enough children to fill nearly 100 World Cup stadiums.

Every one of those children has a story.
Every one of those families deserves support.
And every one of them deserves to know they are not alone.

That’s why we’re building The Green House.

A place where grieving families can step away from the noise of everyday life, reconnect with one another, spend time in nature, and simply breathe. A place where healing isn’t rushed and grief isn’t something to hide.

We know one house won’t serve 6.6 million children.

But it will serve one family at a time.

And for that family, it can change everything.

💚 If you believe grieving families deserve spaces built just for them, follow along as we bring The Green House to life.

Address

Carlisle, MA
01741

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