Our Story

The 4:04 Foundation was born from the shared devastation of trauma and grief after the Cherry family watched their only son take his last breath at 4:04 PM on July 6, 2021. In that moment, they realized how quickly life can change.

The Need

Grieving children often experience profound isolation, which can hinder their ability to form and maintain friendships. Without adequate support and resources, these children struggle to navigate their emotional and social worlds.

Compounding these challenges, timely access to grief-informed counseling is scarce, leaving many without the professional guidance they need to cope with their loss. This lack of support heightens their emotional and social difficulties, increasing the risk of negative long-term psychological impact.

The name “4:04” not only marks the moment of the Cherry Family’s loss, but also draws a parallel to the HTTP 404 error, symbolizing a missing resource. This reflects the significant lack of support available to grieving families, a gap the foundation is committed to closing.

Our Mission

The 4:04 Foundation’s purpose is to support children and adolescents of profound loss by providing personalized care consisting of local goods, educational resources, and tools to assist them on a healthy, supportive grief journey aiming to foster a thriving community through empathy, education, and courageous conversations.

Our Work

Facilitated by trained volunteers and clinicians, our grief and trauma-informed peer support groups provide a judgment-free, safe space for young grievers to connect and share their feelings. Following the Dougy Center Model, our work is based on a humanistic and holistic approach to understanding and supporting children and families who are grieving.

Our peer grief support groups provide a safe space where members choose to participate at their comfort level. Our goal is to make your child’s time with us as welcoming and comfortable as possible. For children and teens, these groups include discussions, play, and activities designed to help them express grief in a supportive group environment.

Starting in 2025, our peer grief support groups will meet for 1.5 hours on the second Sunday of every month. These open-ended groups allow participants to attend for as long as they find it helpful in their grief journey. Our goal is to reshape the narrative of grief as a normal and natural response to loss, while offering grief-informed services—at no cost—to families of grieving children.

Spreading Our Message

To expand our reach and provide education and programming throughout Middle Tennessee, we plan to:

• Partner with schools, community programs, and other nonprofits to educate and advocate for adolescent grievers.
• Review and distribute best practice guidelines for both print and spoken media on childhood grief.
• Offer peer-to-peer grief support program for Middle Tennessee, with a curriculum overseen by our licensed mental health clinician