"Thank you! Your bravery is supernatural. I'm so glad this venue was here for me then and now. So much heartache for members, young and old. Thank you for your kindness."

​

"Nikki-Just in case no one has told you this today, you are loved, you are beautiful, and you have the biggest and most giving heart of anyone I know. 

You inspire, you encourage, you lift us up and you tell us it's okay when we get down. 

You have felt what we feel. You have been where we are at. You were left trying to make sense of a senseless situation just like we were. 

You shared the darkest and most personal moments of your life with us and you were left to raise two small children as a single mother. 

You're our protector. You're our leader and example. You're our voice when we lose our voices. 

Your vision when you created this group was born out of your own loss and you knew how important it would be for us to connect with other women who are walking our same journey. 

You will never know how many women's lives you have helped with your words. You helped us pick up the broken pieces and put them back together when we thought that was an impossible task. 

I can only speak for myself when I say that joining this group was the single most important thing I did for myself. I was intrigued by this woman named Nikki and how well she used her words to help other women, strangers, women she will most likely never meet in person. What you do is straight from the heart and it doesn't go unnoticed. 

I just thought you should know in case no one has told you that today." 

"You are a great person and an amazing administrator. I've told so many of my friends how impressed I am on how you keep this group genuine. No trolls, no questionable people. Please continue what you do and how you do it."

"The only thing that helped me survive, and by only thing I do fully mean it, has been knowing that others had survived this pain and were still alive a few years down the line, when I couldn't fathom surviving a week, let alone months, of this agonising pain.

So sorry for your loss and so many others losses here but thankful we have each other. Community is instrumental in keeping us going through the darkest days of our lives while those further ahead shine light for newer ones landing on this unimaginable path."

"I'm so impressed that this was created and is maintained by one amazing woman. That's really inspiring. What you've created for us all.....is beyond anything I know I could thank you for. For many it's our safe space. Hats off to you...you are amazing. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for this group and all these wonderful women caught in a horrible place." ​

"You are a great person and an amazing administrator. I've told so many of my friends how impressed I am on how you keep this group genuine. No trolls, no questionable people. Please continue what you do and how you do it."

"Nikki Bonkoski if it had not been for you and this group I honestly don't know if I'd have gotten through it all. He died February of 2020. Two weeks later COVID shut the world down. I couldn't get any therapy and counseling and I joined some other FB groups but when I found this one I knew it wasn't a coincidence. This was where I needed to be.

I was immediately impressed with Nikki. Her calm demeanor and her kind words and wise advice. I didn't know her. If I bumped into her I would have said excuse me and kept walking.

I love words but they are just words, anyone can say nice words. So I watched what she posted. I read everything she wrote and I looked for any cracks in what she said. I found none. Her words matched her actions and everything she did and does come straight from the heart.

She encourages, she lifts us up.

She reminded us we're brave, we're important and we're loved. On our hardest days she is there.

And I think why? What makes this woman do what she does. She's not getting paid. We're strangers to her and each other. She has her own family and this group takes a lot of time.

Why does she do this.

And I know why, it's because she cares."

"Nikki Bonkoski you didn’t just create a platform. You created a sanctuary. A place where survivors come as they are: bruised, healing, real, and find community, strength, and hope.

Your courage to lead with vulnerability lit a path for so many of us. You’ve turned your own story into a source of light and in doing so, reminded us that we’re not alone.

Thank you for showing us that healing is possible and that we can do it together. This place gives me validation, hope, and strength."

"You’ve turned an absolutely devastating tragedy into a bright light of hope for others by sharing your process through your writing and through the outreach of this page. 

It’s a weird thing, to in a way, celebrate a tragic anniversary. But 11 years of surviving , healing, and ultimately thriving, should absolutely be celebrated.  

It’s truly the magic of the world to take something so terribly dark and turn it into something of light and love. And you’ve done it with so much grace. 

I celebrate you today by acknowledging how amazing you are!!!