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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.

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On October 21, I’ll be leading an Expert Roundtable at the Massachusetts Council of Nonprofits Conference on a subject t...
10/06/2026

On October 21, I’ll be leading an Expert Roundtable at the Massachusetts Council of Nonprofits Conference on a subject that has become central to nearly everything I do:

Building Trust Through Authentic Storytelling.

I never set out to become a storyteller.

I started telling my story because my son William died, and I needed to find a way to talk about him, about grief, and about what happened to our family.

Over time, I learned that sharing our stories can do more than help us feel seen. Stories can build trust. They can bring people into a mission. They can make an organization feel human. And when we tell them with honesty, vulnerability, and intention, they can move people to care and to act.

At the roundtable, I’ll be talking about what authentic storytelling actually looks like for nonprofit leaders: how to share the real people behind our missions without exploiting their experiences, how to decide what belongs in a story and what doesn’t, and why the stories that build the most trust aren’t always the most polished ones.

I’m really looking forward to this conversation with other nonprofit leaders and fundraisers, and to hearing how they’re navigating storytelling in their own organizations.

📍 Massachusetts Council of Nonprofits Conference
📅 October 21
🎤 Expert Roundtable: Building Trust Through Authentic Storytelling

If you’ll be there, come find me. I’d love to meet you.

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the families who will eventually walk through the front door of The Green House.We...
09/14/2026

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the families who will eventually walk through the front door of The Green House.

We don’t know them yet.

But somewhere, right now, there is a family who may someday spend a week here.

And they won’t arrive alone.

They’ll bring the person who died with them.

Not physically, of course.

But in all the ways grieving families carry our people everywhere.

In the stories we tell.

The meals we still make.

The songs we can’t skip.

The jokes that will always be funny because they thought they were funny.

The photographs tucked into our bags.

The traditions we refuse to stop.

The names we still say.

William will always be part of The Green House. This entire place exists because he lived and because we love him.

But one of the things I want most is for this house to become filled with other people’s people.

I want families to know immediately:

You don’t have to leave them at the door.

You don’t have to make anyone comfortable by avoiding their name.

You don’t have to pretend your family begins with only the people who are physically here.

Bring them.

Tell us about them.

Cook their favorite dinner.

Put their picture on the nightstand.

Say their name at breakfast.

Tell the story everyone has heard 400 times.

Take them into the woods.

Take them to the ocean.

This house will have room for them.

Today, I’d love to start filling The Green House with names. Leave the name of someone you love and miss in the comments. And if you want, tell us one tiny thing about them.

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the families who will eventually walk through the front door of The Green House.We...
09/14/2026

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the families who will eventually walk through the front door of The Green House.

We don’t know them yet.

But somewhere, right now, there is a family who may someday spend a week here.

And they won’t arrive alone.

They’ll bring the person who died with them.

Not physically, of course.

But in all the ways grieving families carry our people everywhere.

In the stories we tell.

The meals we still make.

The songs we can’t skip.

The jokes that will always be funny because they thought they were funny.

The photographs tucked into our bags.

The traditions we refuse to stop.

The names we still say.

William will always be part of The Green House. This entire place exists because he lived and because we love him.

But one of the things I want most is for this house to become filled with other people’s people.

I want families to know immediately:

You don’t have to leave them at the door.

You don’t have to make anyone comfortable by avoiding their name.

You don’t have to pretend your family begins with only the people who are physically here.

Bring them.

Tell us about them.

Cook their favorite dinner.

Put their picture on the nightstand.

Say their name at breakfast.

Tell the story everyone has heard 400 times.

Take them into the woods.

Take them to the ocean.

This house will have room for them.

Today, I’d love to start filling The Green House with names. Leave the name of someone you love and miss in the comments. And if you want, tell us one tiny thing about them.

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the families who will eventually walk through the front door of The Green House.We...
09/14/2026

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the families who will eventually walk through the front door of The Green House.

We don’t know them yet.

But somewhere, right now, there is a family who may someday spend a week here.

And they won’t arrive alone.

They’ll bring the person who died with them.

Not physically, of course.

But in all the ways grieving families carry our people everywhere.

In the stories we tell.

The meals we still make.

The songs we can’t skip.

The jokes that will always be funny because they thought they were funny.

The photographs tucked into our bags.

The traditions we refuse to stop.

The names we still say.

William will always be part of The Green House. This entire place exists because he lived and because we love him.

But one of the things I want most is for this house to become filled with other people’s people.

I want families to know immediately:

You don’t have to leave them at the door.

You don’t have to make anyone comfortable by avoiding their name.

You don’t have to pretend your family begins with only the people who are physically here.

Bring them.

Tell us about them.

Cook their favorite dinner.

Put their picture on the nightstand.

Say their name at breakfast.

Tell the story everyone has heard 400 times.

Take them into the woods.

Take them to the ocean.

This house will have room for them.

I’d love to start filling The Green House with names. Leave the name of someone you love and miss in the comments. And if you want, tell us one tiny thing about them.

I asked. You answered.I asked grieving people what they would want at The Green House, and your answers were remarkably ...
09/09/2026

I asked. You answered.

I asked grieving people what they would want at The Green House, and your answers were remarkably consistent.

Soft blankets.
A chair big enough to curl up in.
Tea and coffee.
Books and journals.
Something creative to do with your hands.

Nature.

Quiet.

A place to be together.

A place to be alone.

And maybe most importantly, nothing required of you.

And as I read through your responses, I kept thinking:

YES. This is exactly what we are building.

The Green House backs directly up to Beebe Woods, with miles of trails, trees and ponds essentially in our backyard.

Go the other direction and you can walk or bike about a mile to the ocean and look out across Vineyard Sound.

Woods one way. Ocean the other.

And inside?

This is where my lifelong belief that there is NO SUCH THING as too many pillows and blankets will finally be vindicated.

Big cozy sofas. Chairs you can curl up in. Blankets everywhere. Books. Art supplies. Coffee. Tea. Little nooks. Places to gather and places to retreat.

Everything available.

Nothing required.

Because The Green House isn’t about telling a grieving family how to grieve.

It’s about giving them a beautiful, restorative place where they can let down for a little while.

Walk. Sleep. Read. Paint. Talk. Don’t talk. Ride bikes to the beach. Sit under the trees. Make dinner. Laugh together. Cry alone.

Just be.

Care without demand.

Keep telling us what you need. We’re listening, and we’re building.

$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.

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Carlisle, MA
01741

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