A Blog Memory Album of Henry

On 06.02.10, In Friends, Social Media, By Shane

I thought it would be a good idea to collect some links of blog posts Katie’s friends and readers wrote in response to Henry’s death. I think- at some point in the future- she’ll take some comfort from the kind words shared and the frank and serious conversations Henry inspired.

By the time she gets ready to read these, I wanted them to be easy for her to find. So, I’m putting together this online memory album of blog entries about Henry and his family for Katie to read when she’s ready.

It is quite likely I won’t catch all of them, but I’ll do my best. Please feel free to let me know if there are others you know about.

Katie has been courageous in sharing the story of Henry’s addiction and the events that led to his hospitalization and death. Now, she has taken on the challenge of bravely sharing the raw wound of grief as she also pursues justice in the search for those who assaulted her son. Her courage has inspired words of comfort and support from bloggers across the online spectrum: from the New York Times to small personal journals.

A collection of blog posts penned in the days following Henry’s death follows after the jump.

UPDATE: To date, I have identified and linked to posts on 161 blogs.

(more…)

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Legacies: How to Remember Henry

On 06.02.10, In Friends, Non-Profits, By Shane

Katie’s blog (mamapundit.com) has repaired its bandwidth issues and is back online if you didn’t already know. She has posted information about Henry’s services there.

Also, there are now at least two ways you can help show your support for Henry’s family in the aftermath of these events.

Katie’s co-workers (of which I am proud to be one) have set-up a fund to help the family as it begins to face the financial realities of Henry’s hospitalization. Insurance will certainly go a long way here, but it should be expected that it won’t cover everything. Plus, there are all sorts of events you don’t budget for– such as the funeral of your son. I’ve posted information about the fund for Katie’s family in an earlier post.

That fund is intended to help the family with immediate needs in the wake of Henry’s tragic death. If you also wish to contribute to a lasting legacy for Henry, Katie and her family have set up a beautiful idea.

As described on her blog:

Our family is starting what we hope will become a permanent, endowed fund that will provide scholarships for families who cannot afford to pay for needed drug and alcohol treatment programs for their children. In lieu of flowers, we ask that you remember our boy and his struggles by considering a donation to:

The Henry Louis Granju Memorial Scholarship Fund
c/o Administrator: James Anderson
Morgan Stanley Smith Barney
2000 Meridian Blvd.
Suite 290
Franklin, TN 37067

I, for one, think is an beautiful and elegant way to memorialize Henry. In their grief, Henry’s family is still clear-headed enough to know their story– however painful– is not a new one. It is their hope that this scholarship will remove the barriers of finance from a deserving family facing a struggle that is all too familiar to Henry’s loved ones.

I’ll be giving to both. I hope you’ll join me.

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…And We’re Back

On 06.02.10, In Friends, Site Maintenance and Housekeeping, By Shane

The outpouring of love and concern for our friend Katie has been something impressive to see. In addition to knocking down her blog for most of yesterday, mine went down sometime in the wee hours of this morning. I suspect the tweet from Heather Armstrong (@Dooce) had something to do with that.

There are so very many people who have reached out in person and online to express their condolences to Katie and her family that it’s only partially amazing to me that it has only caused two blogs to temporarily crash. As I said yesterday elsewhere in the online world, you all have done much to put a beautiful human face on the power of social media. I don’t try to speak for Katie often, but I suspect she would say this is why she loves to be a part of so many online communities.

Thanks to all of you. I’ll be posting links to additional information about Katie in a moment.

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Helping a Friend

On 06.01.10, In Friends, Non-Profits, By Shane

Katie and Henry

It’s been too long since I fired up this blog and shared any news. I hate that the news I have to share today is so sad. My good friend Katie has suffered a devastating loss. Her oldest son, Henry, passed away yesterday following a drug overdose and a serious assault. The whole story of her family’s ordeal can be read in detail from Katie’s own brave words at her blog.

In the meantime, so many of Katie’s friends have asked me and her other co-workers at Ackermann PR what they can do to help. I want to pass along this information on what we are doing here at work and how you can be a part of it.

As if the pain of losing Henry weren’t enough, there are very real financial hurdles to be faced now, as well.

So many people have been asking what they can do to help. There is a simple and direct way to do so and I’m calling on you for assistance. With some coordinated effort in the online community, we can at least try to make one aspect of this horrible time easier to manage for the family and give everyone a sense of having helped in a constructive and real way.

Ackermann PR wants to set up a fund to help defray some of the family’s expenses. On the advice of our company bank, this is the best way to handle it:

Simply write a check made out to Katie Allison Granju.

Mail it to:

Crystal Cardwell
c/o Ackermann PR
1111 Northshore Drive, Suite N-400
Knoxville, TN 37919

We’ll handle it from there and deposit the funds raised into an account for the family.

Please pass this along to everyone you can. Katie has inspired us all with how she has dealt with this tragedy. Let’s see what we can do to help make things just a tiny bit easier for her.

And keep praying for them all as well. I know Katie and her family felt a lot of love and support the past few weeks and believe it helped her.

Thanks,

Shane

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A Belated Thanks

On 11.19.09, In Friends, Site Maintenance and Housekeeping, Social Media, By Shane

I’ve been negligent in thanking some blogging friends for giving my new blogging project a shout out on their blogs and elsewhere, so allow me to rectify that situation now.

First, thanks to Michael Silence over at the Knoxville News Sentinel where he blogs at No Silence Here (and allows me to contribute as my schedule allows). He included a nice mention of the blog in his Sunday column in the paper’s printed edition earlier this month.

Also, R. Neal– one of East Tennessee’s great bloggers and host of Knoxviews.com, shared nice words about my blog (and Rikki Hall‘s wonderful new blog, too) and even included it in his live-stream in the sidebar.

Michael and R. Neal are two of the leading lights in blogging in East Tennessee (and I’d put them up there with high national rankings, too). In addition to providing me with entertaining reading for several years, they’ve also been actively encouraging me to get back to blogging full time. Of course, this all puts some amount of pressure on me to make sure I work hard to continue to earn their recommendations. Thanks for the support, guys!

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