Community Outreach
Monthly Gatherings 2024/2025 in the Pioneer Room 2:00 – 3:30 pm
Our meetings are usually held on the third Thursday of the month, from 3:00 – 4:30 pm in the Pioneer Room of the Mansons Landing Hall, September through April. We meet in-person; everyone is welcome.
The meetings consist of about a ½ hour for sharing about death, dying and grief, and the next hour for a presentation to learn more about a particular death-related topic, followed by a question and answer period and discussion.
Upcoming meetings educational component
2024: Thursdays – Oct 17, Nov 21 2025: Jan 16, Feb 20, Mar 20, Apr 17
Thursday, Oct 17, 2024
In early September, Fawn Baron participated in the 5 day End-Of-Life Doula Training program with Nicole Heidbreder at Hollyhock. Fawn will share some of the things she learned.
Book Club
Book Club using Zoom November 14, 21, and 28 from 7:00 – 8:30 am
Anna Byrne is active in Community-Supported Death Care in the Powell River community. She has written a lovely book, Seven Year Summer, and is offering to facilitate a series of conversations based on themes in her book.
This three-session book circle will draw on a personal memoir as a template for exploring the universal themes of illness, ageing, dying, grief, gratitude, and community. At the age of 32, Anna Byrne was diagnosed with a rare cancer and spent seven years in the medical system. She became a hospice volunteer and began writing about her experiences. These sessions will include discussion, personal reflection, and facilitated inquiry about end-of-life topics in order to foster deeper engagement with life. Infused with beauty, poetry, and ritual, these gatherings will provoke questions and provide nourishment for the spirit.
If you interested in joining, email [email protected], and you will receive more information. This club will consist of people from both Quadra and Cortes Island.
Death Cafe
Next Death Cafe Sunday, Oct 6, 2024 2:00 – 3:30 pm
Currently Death Cafes are offered in over 87 countries around the world. Many find comfort in speaking about their anxieties, grief and curiosities around death and dying in a safe, neutral environment. It is an opportunity to speak from the heart and practice deep listening with others.
This cafe will be in Whaletown, hosted by Darsi Kamay. We will begin with tea, meeting our companions before beginning. The circle is small, based on how many people come, and our limit is 10, by registration only.
In this version of the Death Cafe, we will take turns speaking, and there is no obligation to speak. We will perhaps do two rounds of speaking/listening based on available time, and complete in an hour and a half total. The cafe is lightly facilitated, offering guidelines for speaking before we begin, but no teaching or counseling is given, and this group is led by each participant’s own individual speaking interest within the broader topics of death and dying.
We will meet on the first Saturday of the month, at least until our August meeting, from 2:00 – 3:30 pm, and it is always free of charge. If you would like to register, or would like more information, please send a note to Darsi at [email protected]. More info regarding location will be given upon registration.