The unthinkable has happened. Your spouse has died. Whether this follows a prolonged illness or it is a sudden accident, you are not prepared for this event. Your wedding vows said “until death parts us” and now it has taken place. You may have your will up to date and your life insurance premiums paid, but what do you do now?
New Hope for Widow/ers and Their Families is a support organization dedicated to encouraging, helping and bringing hope to widows and widowers in our area. Support groups, resources, a newsletter and an annual retreat help the bereaved through their time of grief in a safe and healthy way. The weekly coffee group is held each Thursday morning in room #003 at the People Place in Vernon and this is often the first contact a newly bereaved person has with New Hope. The group is led by volunteers who are uniquely able to come alongside and offer empathetic understanding, since each of them has experienced the loss of a spouse through death.
The work of New Hope could not take place without donations from members, funeral homes and churches. New Hope is a non-profit society with a registered charity number.
An annual fundraiser helps support the operation of New Hope’s Vernon office and its monthly expenses of rent, telephone, internet and part-time office staff.
New Hope for Widows and Widowers is holding a Benefit Concert & Silent Auction Nov. 8 at 7 p.m. at Vernon Christian Fellowship. Tickets are $10 per person, available from the New Hope office and at the door. Guests will enjoy dessert, music by the Glanz family from Kelowna, door prizes and silent auction items ranging from art, crafts, event tickets, business services, dining and a golf package from Predator Ridge. Contact the New Hope office at 250-545-6004 or new-hope@telus.net to reserve your tickets.
New Hope has also entered an idea in the Aviva Community Fund competition to help reduce the cost of the retreat and make it affordable to those who are widowed and their families to attend a weekend retreat and learn to deal with many issues of the journey through grief. To support this idea, vote daily at www.avivacommunityfund.org/ideas/acf19840.
For more information about New Hope, go to the website at www.newhope-grief.org/
