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Carry On Youth, Inc which stands for (Creating Academic and Recreational Relief for Youth of Non-living parents) was developed by founder Nick Howard. Nick was in his first year of college when he father passed away from a massive heart attack while jogging at age 45. Nick was an only child and his parents had just divorced after 25 years of marriage so he was responsible for making the final arrangements. To further complicate matters, his father purchased a house three weeks before he died and had not even made the first house payment. All of this information is crucial to understanding the whirlwind of events that losing a loved one entails. Planning a funeral is a trying event, especially for a 19 year old.
Nick stayed busy trying to honor his father with the best funeral a son could arrange. All of the hard work and thought he put in served as a distraction from the reality of the situation. Nick went on to major in psychology at the University of Georgia, all the while struggling with intense anxiety that resulted from the death of his father and the delay of the natural grieving process. Sometimes an individual gets so wrapped up the immediacy of a situation that what the future holds is actually put on hold. All of this is important because many people Nick met later in life shared the same sentiments. Holding the anxiety in and not having a support system makes for a miserable existence. However, once a person realizes they are not alone and others have endured the same situations the angst starts to subside.
Thus, for many years Nick thought of ways to honor his father and how he could help prevent kids that are facing similar situations from having to endure such agony and anxiety or depression without a support structure of similar peers. He even spent some time as a pre-arrangement counselor at a local funeral home to face his own fears and to help others plan what will eventually be one of the worst days of a family member’s life. It was apparent that death doesn’t discriminate, but was also evident that the kids are often the forgotten ones. The way people deal with death ultimately shapes their future. Nick has since came up with the idea for Carry On Youth which will provide mentoring as well as recreational outings for kids that have suffered the loss of a parent in hopes that new relationships can be formed in an understanding of one another’s grief. It is an invaluable resource to have someone to interact with that understands what you are going through. It also is more comfortable than talking to your existing group of friends because you worry about becoming a burden to them if you are always sad. Through experience, and discussion with others, Nick realized that it is imperative to form an all encompassing group that strives to meet the needs of these kids who are mourning. So realizing that going forward these kids will be missing the person that should or did teach them how to cook, hunt, change a tire, hit a curve ball, change a baby, get a stain out, play a guitar, shoot a foul shot, put on a corsage, buy a car or house, and pay for tuition, etc, Nick wanted to help. So he decided to form a charity that would not replace the lost loved one, but will help alleviate the problems that these kids will face in the loved one’s absence and that is the reason Carry On Youth, Inc came to fruition.
Nick stayed busy trying to honor his father with the best funeral a son could arrange. All of the hard work and thought he put in served as a distraction from the reality of the situation. Nick went on to major in psychology at the University of Georgia, all the while struggling with intense anxiety that resulted from the death of his father and the delay of the natural grieving process. Sometimes an individual gets so wrapped up the immediacy of a situation that what the future holds is actually put on hold. All of this is important because many people Nick met later in life shared the same sentiments. Holding the anxiety in and not having a support system makes for a miserable existence. However, once a person realizes they are not alone and others have endured the same situations the angst starts to subside.
Thus, for many years Nick thought of ways to honor his father and how he could help prevent kids that are facing similar situations from having to endure such agony and anxiety or depression without a support structure of similar peers. He even spent some time as a pre-arrangement counselor at a local funeral home to face his own fears and to help others plan what will eventually be one of the worst days of a family member’s life. It was apparent that death doesn’t discriminate, but was also evident that the kids are often the forgotten ones. The way people deal with death ultimately shapes their future. Nick has since came up with the idea for Carry On Youth which will provide mentoring as well as recreational outings for kids that have suffered the loss of a parent in hopes that new relationships can be formed in an understanding of one another’s grief. It is an invaluable resource to have someone to interact with that understands what you are going through. It also is more comfortable than talking to your existing group of friends because you worry about becoming a burden to them if you are always sad. Through experience, and discussion with others, Nick realized that it is imperative to form an all encompassing group that strives to meet the needs of these kids who are mourning. So realizing that going forward these kids will be missing the person that should or did teach them how to cook, hunt, change a tire, hit a curve ball, change a baby, get a stain out, play a guitar, shoot a foul shot, put on a corsage, buy a car or house, and pay for tuition, etc, Nick wanted to help. So he decided to form a charity that would not replace the lost loved one, but will help alleviate the problems that these kids will face in the loved one’s absence and that is the reason Carry On Youth, Inc came to fruition.