Loving Hands Community Care

In 2008, Los Angeles mother Kathy Wooten created Loving Hands Community Care after losing two sons to gang violence only months apart. Since then, she has become a leader within her community as well as a beacon of strength and guidance for others whose children have passed away. Hosting support groups, events for affected siblings, and weekly outreach activities, Loving Hands provides an empathetic community for bereaved mothers and a variety of resources to support all members of these grieving families. Over the years, the organization has expanded its reach beyond families traumatized by gang violence to include those throughout the Los Angeles area who have experienced the loss of a child.

Through events such as the Mother's Day Annual Healing Luncheon, Loving Hands is dedicated to building empathy and connection where anger and divisiveness have long held sway. In recent years, the luncheon has brought together women from all three housing developments in Watts, despite a history of conflicts that have traditionally divided those communities. In building unity in this way, Loving Hands inspires mothers to join together to move beyond their paralyzing grief and to use their shared strength as a platform to open dialogue and seek resolutions to complex issues that their families and communities face.