Epsom based children's charity Jigsaw4u has received lottery funding to help its work.
The small grants scheme has given the charity £8,730 to support children and young people coping with grief, loss and trauma in the Epsom and Kingston area.
The funding will help Jigsaw4u run groups for families where children have experienced the death of a close family member from illness, accident, suicide or murder.
According to research, one in every 25 children and young people will experience the death of a parent before the age of 18 years.
The charity recently launched a new grief support service in Epsom, with a new office at Riverview Primary School in West Ewell.
Carol Bason, service manager Surrey, from Jigsaw4u says "We are delighted to have received this funding which we will be using to pay for the equipment, room hire and transport costs for families and our 'buddy' volunteers that we need to run the groups.
"At these groups, bereaved children and adults talk about feeling alone and different. When they are at our groups they are with others who understand how they feel.
"Buddy volunteers lend a helping hand to the children. We wouldn't manage without them."
'Buddy' volunteers are trained by Jigsaw4u to provide one to one support for young people and children at the groups. For example, they help families make memory boxes - with photographs and items relating to the person who has died. Children and young people are encouraged to bring in mementoes of their loved one such as pictures and talk about them.
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