The sacrifice has already been made. What happens next is up to us.
40%
200+
40%
of children who lose a parent meet the criteria for major depression within one month
24%
200+
40%
still meet that criteria two months later, inside the highest-risk window for lasting harm
200+
200+
200+
first responder families face sudden, traumatic loss like this every year
Day One
Months After
Week Three
The community always shows up first.
When a first responder is killed in the line of duty, the community responds. Food arrives at the door. Colleagues show up. Neighbors and strangers gather to pay their respects. For a brief window, the family is surrounded.
Then life moves on for everyone except the people who lost someone they can't replace.
Week Three
Months After
Week Three
Then it fades, fast.
The surviving spouse becomes the emotional anchor for their kids at exactly the moment they have the least capacity to give. Most departments have nothing structured in place for families once that first wave of support fades.
Months After
Months After
Months After
Families of the Fallen was built for the long stretch.
Founded in 2024 by Nicholas Buell, a former law enforcement officer and coroner death investigator, we provide grief support, resource referrals, monthly check-ins, and direct financial relief to the spouses and children of first responders killed in the line of duty. We don't show up once. We stay.
This campaign raises $10,000 for our Family Stability Fund, which provides emergency financial relief to families navigating grief and financial hardship at the same time. Every gift, at any level, goes directly to a family in our care.
Ways to Help
Give once, or monthly
Give once, or monthly
Give once, or monthly
Your gift funds check-ins, counseling referrals, and direct relief for a family in our care, starting today.
Fundraise for us
Give once, or monthly
Give once, or monthly
Set a goal of $200 to $500, get a copy-paste post and a personal link, and rally your own network for the fund.
Give in honor
Give once, or monthly
Give in honor
Give in memory of a first responder you knew. Their name is added to our Wall of Heroes within 48 hours.
Every dollar reaches a family, not an overhead line.
Sends a care package to a family in crisis.
Covers a full resource guide and a personal check-in call for one family.
Funds two months of ongoing check-ins for a family still finding their footing.
Covers a counseling referral and the follow-up support that makes it stick.
Provides comprehensive support for one family for 90 days: grief support, referrals, and direct relief.
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