Emmanuel Hospice, Faith Hospice, Heartland Hospice, Hospice of Michigan, Gentiva Hospice, Grace Hospice and the Interfaith Community partner for annual remembrance event
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (Sept. 7, 2016) – Members of the Grand Rapids community are invited to join six local hospice organizations for We Remember: A Community Interfaith Memorial Event from 6 to 8 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 27 at Dominican Center at Marywood, located at 2025 Fulton St. E in Grand Rapids.
The annual interfaith event, sponsored by Emmanuel Hospice, Faith Hospice, Heartland Hospice, Hospice of Michigan, Gentiva Hospice and Grace Hospice, allows those who lost a loved one to share memories and honor a special family member or friend. This free event is open to the public and all ages are welcome.
At 6 p.m., a one hour memorial service will be held by representatives of various faiths including Bahá’í, Buddhism, Christian, Islam, Judaism and Native American. Each guest is encouraged to bring a photo or other small memorabilia of their loved one to display. An American Sign Language interpreter will also be available during the interfaith service.
Various memorial activities are planned from 7 to 8 p.m. and guests can choose their level of participation, by attending one or all of the evening’s activities including:
- Planting flowers in a remembrance garden
- Taking part in a reflective nature walk on the grounds of Dominican Center at Marywood
- Decorating and flying a kite as part of Hospice of Michigan’s annual Fly & Remember
- Listening to the beautiful sounds of a Bahá’í choir surrounding a memorial fire
“I lost my husband a year ago and in some ways it is more difficult for me now than it was then,” said Linda Toloui, who attended the last year’s event following her husband, Koroush’s, passing under Faith Hospice’s care. “The Interfaith Memorial Event is a wonderful tribute to our deceased loved ones, and such a unifying and heartwarming experience to gather with so many people all there because of love. I look forward to this year’s program very much.” A member of the Bahá’í Faith’s Grand Rapids Local Spiritual Assembly, Toloui addressed the audience last year and will do so again in 2016, sharing the Bahá’í teachings on hope.
We Remember is supported by Heritage Life Story Funeral Homes and Islamic Center of West Michigan.
For more information about We Remember, please call (616) 514-3325 or visit https://bit.ly/2bG5MVk.
About the participants:
Emmanuel Hospice: Emmanuel Hospice is an interfaith collaboration of four local organizations with more than 200 years of combined experience providing quality health care services in West Michigan. St. Ann’s, Clark, Porter Hills and Sunset have joined together to deliver the highest level of holistic care to those who have reached the end of life and their loved ones wherever home is.
Dominican Center at Marywood: The Dominican Center’s mission is to foster the growth and transformation of persons, communities, and organizations through prayer, learning, and collaboration in an inclusive, hospitable environment.
Faith Hospice: The greater Grand Rapids area’s first faith-based hospice, Faith Hospice cares for approximately 1,500 patients annually through in-home hospice care services and Trillium Woods, the area’s only dedicated in-patient hospice center. Part of the Holland Home system of care, Faith Hospice focuses on providing expert and compassionate physical, emotional, and spiritual care to the loved ones and families it serves.
Heartland Hospice: Heartland Hospice first opened its doors in the greater Grand Rapids area in 1999, and is part of the HCR Manor Care family. Heartland Hospice is the third largest hospice provider in the nation and believes in providing care wherever the patient or family calls home.
Hospice of Michigan: A nationally recognized leader in end-of-life care, Hospice of Michigan is the original – and largest – hospice in the state. The nonprofit cares for more than 1,800 patients each day, raising more than $5 million each year to cover the cost of care for the uninsured and underinsured. HOM offers a broad range of services to enhance the quality of life at the end of life, including community-based palliative care and pediatric care programs.
Gentiva Hospice: Gentiva Hospice an affiliate of Kindred at Home is one of the nations largest post acute services provider in the country. When healing and curative treatments are no longer an option for individuals at end-of-life, Gentiva’s hospice team provides a family oriented, interdisciplinary model of care designed to meet the emotional, spiritual, and physical needs of patients.
Grace Hospice: Grace Hospice, along with Visiting Physicians Association (VPA), Pinnacle Senior Home Care, and The Home DME are all part of the nationally recognized healthcare continuum of the U.S. Medical Management. As end-of-life care providers, our mission at Grace Hospice is for each employee to treat every patient as their own treasured loved one, providing care that affords a quality of life that outweighs quantity of days, and supports caregivers as their hearts find healing.
Kaufman Interfaith Institute: The mission of Kaufman Interfaith Institute is to promote interfaith understanding and mutual respect in West Michigan through interfaith dialogue and service we promote a vibrant and diverse community for all generations.