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Woman’s nonprofit to help grieving kids

erin rossow, grieving kids, nonprofit, owatonna
Erin Rossow takes a few minutes out of her busy day to talk about Together Our Memories (TOM), the nonprofit she officially launched last August. TOM will bring grief support to Waseca High School and fund therapy sessions for high school students. Staff photo by Joni Hubred
By
Joni Hubred, News Editor

Erin Rossow knows about grief.

At age 16, the Morristown resident saved her father, Tom, after he attempted to kill himself. A year later, on Dec. 22 at 4:55 a.m., he died by suicide.

“It was a traumatic experience,” said Rossow, who works in sales for the Lindner Farm Network and KOWZ radio in Owatonna. “I spoke about it through high school, but I was still really kind of numb.”

She did see, though, that her work was helping others. One girl thanked her for speaking and said after seeing similar signs in her father, she was able to get him the help he needed.

“I knew I wanted to take my experience and benefit the community,” Rossow said. “I just didn’t know how.”

Fast forward, and Erin and her husband, Matt Rossow, had what Erin calls a “surprise pregnancy.” Her due date was Dec. 7, then Dec. 14. She dreaded the idea of having her child born on the same day her father passed.

But that’s when Jillian, now 6 years old, entered the world–at 4:54 a.m. She instantly became the light of her mother’s life.

Though she felt sad that her father didn’t get to see both of his granddaughters–Madison came along two years after her sister–a session with a medium who channeled her father provided some comfort.

“Dad said he held both of my daughters before they were born,” Rossow said.

As she made her own journey through grief, Rossow has also encouraged her girls to talk about their emotions and feelings. That’s key to the work her new nonprofit, Together on Memories, will do, starting in Waseca High School.

While she’s had the idea for a while, it wasn’t until she joined Owatonna Business Women that she made a connection with an attorney who specializes in helping nonprofits. She’s finishing up the website over the next six months, but already has a presence on Facebook and Instagram.

The nonprofit is named in honor of her father, and its mission is to “help children become their best self.”

“I will be going monthly to Waseca High School with a therapist for a grief support group,” she said. “It’s a safe place for kids to talk about grief.”

That doesn’t only mean loss through death, Rossow added. Kids grieve after losing a friend, after a big move, and for other reasons.

The idea came from her experience at Prior Lake High School after her father’s death. The school offered a grief support group, and she knows rural schools don’t always have that resource.

Together On Memories will host its inaugural fundraiser on Dec. 16 at The Mill Event Center in Waseca. It will be a black-tie gathering, inspired by a fundraiser Rossow attended in Mankato.

Money raised will help kids pay for therapy, which Rossow knows from experience can seem out of reach.

“There were times when I would have to decide whether to put gas in my car or see my therapist,” she said.

Rossow works with a board of directors that includes Abby Hughes with Suburban Furniture & Flooring, therapist Shannon Kuball, Jessica Freitag of Lush Cakes, and Jill Malecha of MinnWest bank. She hopes to add more volunteers; anyone who’s interested can reach out to her on social media.

While she’s starting local, Rossow has set her sights much higher.

“I’d love to go national and have this be available to every kid,” she said.

In the meantime, there’s work to do. Rossow fits in time for Together On Memories with raising her daughters and working a family farm with 15 chickens and nine head of Red Angus steer.

“The biggest thing about it is that it actually brings me peace,” she said. “It’s calms me down and brings me happiness and joy.”

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