Warriors Find a Nearby Place to Call Home – and Give Back

Jake Wilkerson, a Stanislaus State rising senior business administration major, tossed gray square foam cubes out of the Volcano Room at Jessica’s House, a space located in Turlock, where grieving children find comfort plunging into the soft space.

Wilkerson, completing volunteer hours for faculty member Michael Morgan’s Business Ethics and Social Responsibility course, smiled as he emptied the room of the blocks and other soft toys in search of candy wrappers or other debris.

The Modesto resident is one of countless volunteers, interns and staff with Stan State ties who serve at Jessica’s House, which supports grieving children and families. It seems that proximity to the Turlock campus is not the only draw for Warriors.

“There was a list of organizations where we could volunteer,” Wilkerson said. “I did a little research and liked the service Jessica’s House provides for young ones.”

“When I was an undergraduate, I knew I wanted to get into social work. I decided to intern here, and I fell in love with this place.”

  Marlen Duran, Director of Outreach and Interns for Jessica’s House and Stan State Alumna 

That service includes art and other activities for children to express their feelings after losing a parent or sibling and giving their family members a place to share their grief, all free of charge.

Stan State softball player Karli DalBianco had toured Jessica’s House with her team, and when she enrolled in a class requiring an internship, her first choice was to serve it at Jessica’s House.

“I was really drawn to the work they do here,” said DalBianco, who graduated in May with a degree in child development with hopes of becoming a pediatric nurse. “I experienced some grief as a child, and my family never really talked about it. It was always a lot of tough love, move on, you have to get over it. I wanted to be someone I didn’t have as a child.”

She has worked with children as young as age 3 through teenagers.

Talking with children or leading activities is something DalBianco couldn’t imagine doing when she started her internship. Like most everyone who helps at the facility on Christoffersen Parkway near the Turlock campus, she was initially afraid she’d say the wrong thing.

“That transition happens pretty fast,” said Marlen Duran’19, sociology, MSW ’22, director of outreach and interns for Jessica’s House. “You can see their comfort level grow pretty fast.”

In addition to supervising nine to 15 interns each semester, Duran creates ideas for therapeutic spaces and collaborates on new art projects.

“When I was an undergraduate, I knew I wanted to get into social work, but that’s such a broad field,” Duran said. “I decided to intern here, and I fell in love with this place.”

Jessica’s House appeals to people for a number of reasons.

For Executive Director Erin Nelson, it fills a need in the community that was absent when she lost her husband Tyler to a plane crash during a fishing trip to Alaska in 1995. Her children were 3 and 5 years old. Soon after, Nelson lost her mom and took in her 15-year-old sister.

“That introduced me to the needs of children and teens when they’re grieving a parent, plus my own grief,” Nelson said. “We were looking for some type of support in our area. There wasn’t anything.”

Nelson had researched other facilities and reached out to other local families she knew were grieving. She presented her idea for creating a supportive space to Emanuel Medical Center’s Board of Directors, who adopted Jessica’s House as a department of the hospital.

It is named for Jessica Everett, who was diagnosed with leukemia at age 6 and died three years later.

Based on a facility for grieving children and families in Portland, Oregon, Jessica’s House has evolved over the years as best healing practices emerge.

“We are always wanting to work with expressive arts and activities that can really help a child find coping skills and integrate their grief, and also find ways to express, because everyone is so different in how they heal and what helps them,” Nelson said.

Staff and volunteers lead children through a variety of art projects and other activities. There’s even a small stage for performing.

“For me growing up, I didn’t have the greatest high school experience, and theatre was a big thing for me, a big escape for my emotions,” said Ellie Gonzales, a 2016 Stan State Childe Development graduate who oversees Jessica’s House volunteers. “I always wanted to help children in some capacity with expressive arts, and I started as a theatre major before I transitioned to child development. When I came here, this was a perfect place.”

Gonzales was an intern at Jessica’s House for a year and was a volunteer before she was hired in 2017 to join the staff of 14.

With so few employees, Jessica’s House relies on volunteers, who number 196. They complete 20 hours of training and work with staff before they lead activities.

“They’re amazing,” Gonzales said. “With our small staff, we wouldn’t be able to do this work without our volunteers.”

Those volunteers include student athletes from Stan State who help with clean-up after Jessica’s House events. The University’s sports broadcaster, Bryan Nelson, is married to Erin Nelson.
Stan State student Pedro Olivera began volunteering in spring 2024 as he was preparing to graduate from the University with a degree in psychology.

Olivera, who wants to become a counselor for trauma victims and will begin Stan State’s MSW program in the fall, leads Spanish-speaking sessions for adults at Jessica’s House. It has had a profound effect on him.

“It helped me explore my own grief and to speak to my family about it,” Olivera said. “I was able to have my own session with my family, and now it’s an open conversation about the passing of family, whereas before we would never mention their name or what happened.”

Olivera also has worked with different age groups of children on art projects at Jessica’s House and said he’s always uplifted when he leaves, either because of the families he’s helped, the exploration of his own grief or the interaction with staff.

“I’m grateful they let me be a small piece of what they do here,” Olivera said. “It really is rewarding.”