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Victoria Hospice candle-lighting gathering reminds us it’s OK to grieve

Community gathering is Dec. 1 at 5 p.m. by the Garry oak tree on Richmond Road
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Hospice hosts a community gathering Dec. 1 that includes the annual tree lighting, and a new candle-lighting ceremony, treats, music and importantly, information on how to cope with grief on the holidays. (Courtesy Victoria Hospice)

A gathering of remembrance kicks off the 37-year Victoria Hospice tradition on Thursday evening.

Hospice hosts a community gathering Dec. 1 that includes a candle-lighting ceremony, treats, music and importantly, information on how to cope with grief during the holidays.

The event kicks off Celebrate a Life, a tradition at Victoria Hospice that invites the community to celebrate the lives of loved ones lost – recent or long ago.

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Guest speaker Nancy Borden plans to honour her mom Doreen, whose end-of-life care at Victoria Hospice was delivered with gentleness and compassion, according to the family.

“She found the good in people, always. One of her favourite things to do was sneak Christmas stockings to folks who were alone. She would have fun items wrapped and stuffed full in the stocking and then drive around in the middle of the night with our father on Christmas Eve and hang them so the receiver would see them from the living room window on Christmas morning and know they were thought of and loved,” Borden said.

Everyone is welcome to participate in Celebrate a Life by hanging a personalized tribute ornament on the tree at Victoria Hospice’s Community Support Centre (102-4450 Chatterton Way) from Dec. 1 to 15. Anyone can also dedicate a star and read tributes from community members online at victoriahospice.org/celebrate and tributes on Victoria Hospice’s Facebook and Instagram pages.

READ ALSO: Hospice provides compassion in a time of COVID

Celebrate a Life supports Victoria Hospice’s commitment to care through bereavement services, which include professional counselling, grief support groups and workshops like Grieving Through the Holidays offering ways to cope with honour and navigate grief through the holidays. The free workshop runs Dec. 2 from 2 to 4 p.m.

The community gathering is Dec. 1 at 5 p.m. by the Garry oak tree on Richmond Road at Victoria Hospice (Richmond Pavilion at Royal Jubilee Hospital).

christine.vanreeuwyk@blackpress.ca


 

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