By LINN ANN HUNTINGTON
Healing Hearts Grief Support Group
The Healing Hearts Grief Support Group has two events planned in May. The group will hold its annual event remembering and honoring deceased children on Tuesday, May 19.
The “Avenue of Pinwheels” will begin at 7 p.m. in the children’s section of Mt. Allen Cemetery, 27th and Vine. The public is invited to attend. Participants are encouraged to use the south entrance near the children’s area.
The event is for parents who have lost children, regardless of the child’s age. This includes children lost through miscarriage or stillbirth. The service is also for others impacted by a child’s death, including grandparents, aunts, uncles, siblings, friends, and teachers.
The ceremony’s purpose is to remember and honor all lost children, not just those buried at Mt. Allen, organizers said.
At the ceremony, pinwheels will be available free of charge to all participants, or people may bring their own. Participants may place a note on their pinwheel with the child’s name and write a personal message. All of the names will be read aloud. Doris Schmidt, one of the organizers, said last year 108 names were read aloud.
Then the pinwheels will be hammered into the ground by a Healing Hearts volunteer. The pinwheels will be placed in two long rows facing each other, thus creating “The Avenue of Pinwheels.”
The pinwheels will be left up at Mt. Allen until after Memorial Day. Then members of Healing Hearts will pick them up. Organizers will laminate new pinwheels to protect them from the elements. Any damaged pinwheels will be replaced. Then the pinwheels will be safely stored until the following year. Individuals who want to keep their child’s pinwheel are welcome to do so.
Healing Hearts also will hold its monthly meeting at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, May 21, at the Schmidt Community Center. The south doors will open at 6:15 p.m. The guest speaker will be Ken Windholz, a psychotherapist, who teaches in the Psychology Department at Fort Hays State University.
Windholz will be speaking on the topic, “Reclaiming Joy After Loss: How Grief and Happiness Can Coexist.”
The Healing Hearts Grief Support Group is for adults who have lost someone dear to them, be it a spouse, parent, child, sibling, friend, or others.
More information about the events is available from the support group’s facilitator, Dr. Kate McGonigal, at klmcgonigal@fhsu.edu.