For Goodness’ Sake: The Story Behind the Saint James 9/11 Bereavement Support Group

After 9/11, many Americans were left with a question held deep in their hearts: How could the grief-stricken families go forward after such traumatic, catastrophic loss? For one group of families directly affected by this tragedy, the downstairs of a local Catholic church in the small town of Basking Ridge, New Jersey, would set the stage for an answer.

For Goodness’ Sake offers a window into the workings and surroundings a 9/11 bereavement support group held in the Saint James Church, where 76 families and 104 children came together to face their grief and seek answers. Author Pamela Koch shares the stories of the families and the volunteers who rallied together in outreach, where she and her team used a holistic approach to grief to provide unimaginable, creative counseling sessions over a two-year period. Families would be transformed through these uplifting sessions, even paying it forward and helping Pam through a T-cell transplant for her acute myelogenous leukemia.

In the aftermath of the 9/11 terror attacks, a small New Jersey town with a big heart would come together to aid grieving families–and goodness prevailed! In the end, the story of the Saint James 9/11 Bereavement Support Group is a story of an amazing outpouring of faith, hope, and unconditional love upon the families so unforgettably touched that September day.