Honoring conversations on living, dying well

On behalf of BGH Community Hospice, North Idaho Palliative Care Coalition, and our “Living and Dying Well” development team, we want to say thank you to the Haugse Properties for donating their incredible downtown space to create a “hub” of presence, conversation, community participation and education during our week-long event: Conversations on Living & Dying Well, Oct. 14-19, 2019.

This pop-up hub location became a solace for our community members to have an opportunity to share heart-felt stories of remembrance, to participate in the “weaving of a casket,” to receive consultation about advanced care directives and the green burial movement; as well, to participate in art collaboration with Pend Oreille Arts Council and Creations of Sandpoint, have a listen to dedicated musicians from our local Sandpoint Music Conservatory and come together to “talk about death” at Monday evenings “Death Café” event.

The downtown store-front was literally transformed by community member Heidi Hampe of Rejuvenation Sanctuary, into “sacred space;” as well, of welcome and openness in which life and death were equally celebrated. Our generous gratitude to Brian Lorentzen, for building the base of our beautiful community casket that we wove together as a community; Evans Brothers for supplying coffee all week at the hub and for Death Cafe. We also want to thank Charles from Something Olde Something New for donating yarn, Cassie Dunn Faggion with Its Basket Cass for donating basket weaving supplies; as well, all the folks who donated miscellaneous yarn. A special gratitude to Neiman’s Florist for the fall bouquets, Kirsten Longmeier with Sandpoint Medical Massage for harvesting willow and spearheading the top of our community casket, Robin from Flowers from the Heart for donating clematis for the casket weaving, Burl Wood Dreams for loaning wooden Urns to our hub for conversations of living and dying well.

May we share our heart-felt gratitude to KRFY 88.5 Community Radio, for your generous offering of radio time to share about our “Living & Dying Well” week; as well, for your grant offering & mentorship to make possible the four-part podcast series on “living and dying well.”

Deepened gratitude to our passionate “Living & Dying Well” developers: Dr. Nicole Pelly, Ginna Maus, L.C.S.W, Heidi Hampe, Mary Fraser and Cindy Eskelsen. We have been on a journey together with inspired women with big vision — each of us bringing our gifts of experience of living life and expertise as we evolve this vision of the mystery and cherished weave of life and death.

Thank you to all the volunteers and donators who are making this week-long event run smoothly. Our special gratitude to our contributors to Friday’s “Death Over Dinner” event: Spuds, Ivano’s, Tango Café, Safeway, Winter Ridge, Super 1, Yokes and the BGH cafeteria.

We offer our gratitude to our Sandpoint community at-large, for your gift of participation, presence and conversation. Your presence, was an inspiration to all of us.

May all our lives continue to open with beauty, our hearts open in love.

For additional information, contact me at 208-265-1185 or bonnergeneral.org. In addition, the four-part Living and Dying Well series is still available on our website Hospice page or available at KRFY.org – Community Podcast)

LISSA DeFREITAS

Sandpoint