Hello Friends,

Being invited to share Lemons to Lemonade on The Donna Drake Show was an opportunity I felt incredibly grateful for. As a young nonprofit, having the chance to talk about our work on CBS and to explain why supporting grieving children matters was both exciting and meaningful. It felt like a moment where something we started from a very personal place was being recognized on a much bigger platform.

During the interview, I shared how Lemons to Lemonade began after I lost my dad suddenly to a heart attack when I was five years old. Growing up in Memphis, I was fortunate to have access to free grief counseling and a camp for grieving children through Baptist Memorial Hospital. Those early experiences taught me how powerful community can be, especially at an age when you don’t yet have the words to explain what you’re feeling.

When my mom and I later moved to Orange County, I remember asking her where my camp was and where the support I had in Tennessee had gone. Realizing that those resources didn’t exist here became the reason I wanted to recreate what I had been so lucky to receive, first by writing my grief workbook, Lemons to Lemonade, and eventually by creating camps, meetups, and a nonprofit dedicated to helping grieving kids feel supported and understood.

Today, Lemons to Lemonade has grown into something real. We host summer grief camps, monthly meetups, and are building partnerships with schools, hospitals, and organizations that believe kids deserve support that feels hopeful, normal, and accessible. Our programs aren’t traditional support groups; they’re spaces where kids can laugh, play, and connect with others who understand their experience, without pressure or expectations.

Toward the end of the interview, the conversation took a meaningful turn. Donna shared her own experience of losing her husband and raising four children while carrying her own grief. In that moment, the interview became more than a conversation about an organization, it became a reminder that grief connects all of us. Whether it happens in childhood or later in life, grief stays with us, and when we talk about it honestly, it creates understanding instead of isolation.

That moment stayed with me. It reinforced what I’ve learned through this work: when adults acknowledge grief — especially the grief they remember from childhood — it helps kids feel seen. It reminds them that their feelings are real and that they’re not alone.

I’m deeply thankful for the opportunity to share Lemons to Lemonade on The Donna Drake Show, and for everyone who continues to support this work. What began as a response to personal loss has grown into a community built on connection, empathy, and hope.

Grief may change your story, but it doesn’t end it. When we talk about it, we find one another.

With gratitude,

Sophia Donald

Founder, Lemons to Lemonade