Deborah Tainsh spends much of her time volunteering as a mentor for the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS), a national non-profit Veterans' Service Organization aimed at providing comfort and care for all those who are grieving the death of a loved one serving in the military. Over the 2006 Memorial Day weekend, more than 700 people – including Deborah and her husband, David – attended the 12th annual TAPS National Military Survivor Seminar. As Deborah said, “It is a blessing to be among those who feel united and one of heart and spirit.”

Deborah moderated a parent support group during the Survivor Seminar. The meeting, which was supposed to last only an hour and a half, turned into two hours two hours of sharing and compassion.

Deborah with another TAPS mother during the parent support group.

Deborah also led a journaling workshop for TAPS members. “Everyone wrote, some read, and we all cried,” Deborah said. Read Deborah’s journaling through grief workshop presentation.

The American Heroes Tribute, a nonprofit organization, is using donations to create a banner for each service person killed in Iraq and Afghanistan . Deborah and David Tainsh stand with Patrick’s banner at the TAPS Survivor Seminar.

Deborah spoke about the impact of TAPS at the 2006 TAPS Survivor Seminar:

“ Each of us here at TAPS this 2006 Memorial Weekend has been placed on a road that given a choice we’d never have taken. This road has left us living in what some of us now refer to as ‘Our New Norm,’ and slowly we are learning to adapt to this, learning to live differently as we try on new ways to attempt and make each new day better. On this road we have reached toward a safe place, TAPS, to connect and validate that we are not alone, that our new personal world is accepted and recognized by others willing to listen, hold our hand, hug us, and share their own similar heartbreak, tears, or joyous memories ….”

Read the full text of Deborah’s speech.