Castlegar Hospice is hosting a number of events to help residents through the holiday season who have lost loved ones. Celebrate a Life is on right now on until January 4 at the Super Eight. Suzanne Lehbauer is the Executive Director with Castlegar Hospice and says three memorial trees are set up, including the pet memorial tree.
“People are welcome to come in and look at the display and look at our beautiful trees and if they wish take one of the Celebrate a Life cards and write a message to a loved one that they are thinking of, that they have lost, whoever they want to and put it on one of the memorial trees and make a donation to Castlegar Hospice.”
There’s also an event coming up this Saturday, December 8 called Handling the Holidays – Grief Support. It starts 10:00am in the multipurpose room at the new SPCA building in Castlegar. Lehbauer says it will kick off with some easy yoga.
“Laughter yoga and relaxation yoga are really beneficial in helping with grief support and getting people to even relax just a little bit, so it’s been wonderful and we’ve found it so beneficial with all of our clients.”
There will be drop-in support afterwards from 11:00AM to 1:00PM with hospice grief support workers on hand and afterwards participants are welcome to cuddle with some dogs and cats at the SPCA. If you’re unable to attend Saturday’s event, Lehbauer also encourages you to still reach out.
“If anyone is feeling like the need a little bit of extra support this year, if you can’t make it out to our Handing the Holidays, call the office at 250-304-1266 and we will find a way to help you. You can come into the office, you can meet with one of our support workers, whatever we need to do.”
Click here to visit their website.