nov 2013 jan 2014 pasco county chapter, fl 2013 …the compassionate friends, pasco county chapter 2...

The Compassionate Friends, Pasco County Chapter

PASCO COUNTY CHAPTER, FL NOV 2013 - JAN 2014

ANNOUNCEMENT

EAST PASCO

MEETINGS:

NEW SCHEDULE

We are pleased to

announce that our East

Pasco meetings have

resumed. Bereavement

support groups will be

held on the second

Tuesday of the month

in Wesley Chapel.

For further details

see the meeting

schedule on page 12.

INSIDE THIS ISSUE…

TRADITION…

PRAYER OF FAITH

THANKS FOR THE LITTLE WHILE

THANKSGIVING

I HAD A DREAM

WHEN WORDS BECOME GIFTS

RESOLUTIONS

Registration is now open for TCF Pasco County’s 2013 candle

lighting service, which will be

held on Sunday, December 8th at Gulf Harbors Civic Center in New

Port Richey. Details are available

on page 9 of this newsletter. The Compassionate Friends’

Worldwide Candle Lighting

unites family and friends around the globe in lighting candles to

honor the memories of the sons,

daughters, brothers, sisters, and

grandchildren who left too soon. Believed to be the largest

mass candle lighting on the

globe, the 17th annual Worldwide Candle Lighting is a gift to the

bereavement community from

The Compassionate Friends. As candles are lit for one hour at

7:00 PM local time around the

world, a virtual wave of light is created, moving from one time

zone to the next. Hundreds of

formal candle lighting services

are held, and thousands of informal candle lightings are conducted

in homes, as families gather in

quiet remembrance of children who have died, but will never

be forgotten.

To find out more about this event, visit TCF National Office at

www.compassionatefriends.org.

All visitors are invited to post a message in the online book of

remembrance which will be open

on the website on December 8th.

2013 ANNUAL WORLDWIDE CANDLE LIGHTING

TCF NATIONAL CONFERENCE VENUE ANNOUNCEMENT

Chicago, IL will be the venue for the 37th National Conference

of The Compassionate Friends, to

be held July 11 - 13, 2014. The theme for next year’s event is “Miles of

Compassion through The Winds

of Hope”. More details will be posted on National’s website as

they become available.

The Compassionate Friends, Pasco County Chapter 2

My dear Compassionate Friends,

Another holiday season is beginning. This is a difficult time for us grievers. I know we will get through this season because I and others have gotten through many of them since our children died. I know this is difficult to believe when your loss has been recent. Speaking for myself, getting through the holidays does not mean I look forward to their arrival. Getting through means I must take care of myself, make decisions I am comfortable with as to how I spend each holiday, and remember that the anticipation of the holiday has always been worse than the holiday itself. This year our annual candle lighting will again be held at Gulf Harbors Civic Center on December 8th. You can find full information on page 9 of this newsletter. Our candle lighting gives me a way to celebrate my child’s life and remember him tenderly while united with hundreds of other bereaved parents, grandparents and siblings. I am uplifted by the poems, the pictures of our kids on the DVD Diane creates for us, the candles of remembrance, love, peace and hope lit by our steering committee and the light passed on to the grievers who attend. Looking out at those lit candles it feels like our children are there with us knowing we will always remember. I hope you can join us this year. We are looking for volunteers to join our steering committee, or take on a task or two to help keep us going. One way to begin is to help with our candle lighting as greeters, or help with setting up or clean up after the ceremony. Being a greeter at our meetings, making new people feel as comfortable as possible, is another. A few months ago, Jane Matta stepped up, and is helping me mail out some of the cards. And Wayne Lopusnak has stepped in to join our steering committee and become a group facilitator, allowing us to reopen the East Pasco TCF support group. Thank you, Jane and Wayne! This is the season of giving as well as grieving. I decided to give back to this group nine years ago to honor my son and help TCF of Pasco continue to support others as it had supported me when I was in such a desperate need. I have found giving back has helped soften my grief. All of our steering committee officers have served as long, and I know you join me in thanking them for their service. Remember our motto: We do not walk alone. Call our help line if you need to talk, or want to help, and a Compassionate Friend will return your call. We are good listeners. And we work well with each other.

In compassionate friendship, and hopes for a gentle holidays season,

~ Jean Limongello, TCF Pasco County, FL

FROM THE CHAPTER LEADER . . .

Call our chapter helpline: (813) 273-8721

Leave a message and your phone number

A Compassionate Friend will return your call

PHONE FRIENDS Having a bad day?

Have questions for us?

NEWSLETTER SUBMISSIONS

Our next newsletter will be the February 2014 issue. If you would like to submit a poem, article, or other item for inclusion in the newsletter, it must be received no later than January 10th, 2014. We will try to include all suitable items, subject to availability of space. Mail your submissions to:

The Compassionate Friends, Pasco County Chapter, P.O. Box 1376, Elfers, FL 34680

E-mail submissions to: [email protected] Please be sure to acknowledge authors and sources. Submissions may be edited for content and length.

TCF PASCO COUNTY ONLINE www.tcfpascocounty.org

Visit our website for more information about the chapter, announcements, and helpful links and resources for bereaved families. TCF Pasco’s quarterly newsletters are posted on the chapter website. Please help us keep expenses down by getting your copy online. Newsletters can be printed from the website, or downloaded to your computer in PDF format. Thank you.

TCF PASCO ON FACEBOOK Find us on Facebook, listed under these two page titles: The Compassionate Friends of Pasco County Compassionate Friends Little Lives Group


TRADITION, TRADITION, TRADITION

Even in normal times, tradition isn’t what it is always cracked up to be, and sometimes “tradition” gets in the way of sanity. Often we cling to tradition because it’s easier, we don’t want to offend others, we don’t want to be embarrassed, or we don’t know what else to do. When you are a grieving parent, giving in to tradition can drive you over the edge. I found myself in the “tradition predicament” regarding putting up a tree the first Christmas hol-iday after my son, Chad died. I didn’t want, need, or have the energy to put up a tree. Yet other family members wanted a tree and they wanted it as it always had been, big, bright, and decorated with ornaments they had purchased or made through the years. What eventually took place, with regard to a tree, changed our holiday forever and it has been a good thing for everyone involved. I don’t know the exact circumstances of how our “new tradition” came into being that first year. But I do remember frustration, tears, and upset people. I also remember my daughter saying to me it was her Christmas too and she needed a tree. It was her older brother, the one she remembered getting up with every Christmas morning when she was little that was dead, and she had to have something so she could deal with the emptiness. So she came up with a plan. She and her father would go find a tree and she would take care of the decorations all by herself. That was ten Christmases ago and this year, once again, my husband and my daughter will leave early in the morning, a week before Christmas, and hunt for a tree, just the two of them. When they come home, I will prepare breakfast, while they get the tree in the holder, and move the furniture. We will sit down together and enjoy our meal and then my husband and I will leave for several hours. During that time we will do whatever we feel like doing. We have gone to the cemetery, gone for walks, gone to the bookstore, visited friends, etc. When we return, my daughter will have decorated our Christmas tree, and the whole house! Every year the tree has been different, limited only to my daughter’s imagination and the budget we keep her on. She didn’t use our regular ornaments for a while and when she did, she told me ahead of time and said how meaningful it was for her to be the one who put Chad’s ornaments back on the tree. We have continued this “new tradition” to this day. Now, I find angel ornaments to put on the tree to honor our missing angel, and enjoy with my husband, sons, and family, my daughter’s traditional tribute to her brother. This “changing tradition” has been so healing. Our family has had the brightness and beau-

ty that a lighted tree can provide, and I have been able to save my energy for other things I wanted to do. During the next few weeks, I hope you will make the activities of the season as stress free as you can. I hope that you will feel free to experiment with new traditions, knowing there is no “right way” to go through this season, only “your way.” I hope that you will remember Christmas is only one day and that the time leading up to that “one day” will probably be more difficult than the actual day. And finally, I hope for peace in your hearts, if not today then tomorrow, or the tomorrow after, or the tomorrow after that.

~ By Sue Anderson, TCF South Bend, IN In memory of my son, Chad

PRAYER OF FAITH

We trust that beyond absence there is a presence

That beyond the pain there can be healing

That beyond the brokenness there can be wholeness

That beyond the anger there may be peace

That beyond the hurting there may be forgiveness

That beyond the silence there may be the word

That beyond the word there may be understanding

That through understanding there is love

(Author Unknown)

The seed becomes the flower The flower spreads the seed

And it seems life begins and ends with the wind


in loving memory zoran curic-krulj

1982-2011

when we look at your pictures we just want to jump into them and

be there again so we can stay in that memory with you forever

love you forever mom, dad and sister


THANKS FOR THE LITTLE WHILE

It was a long time ago, our first holiday season with the empty chair. It was dark and cold, but everything was ready. The table was set, the turkey cooked, the candles lit and the seats filled - except one. I stood at the kitchen sink and wondered how I was going to act as the cheery hostess to family and friends who had gathered to celebrate Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving! What was there to be thankful for this year?! It had been a year of struggle, each day being worse than the last until they all had just blurred into a nightmare. Whoever said, "Time heals all wounds” had never been as mortally wounded as I had! Time had healed nothing! In fact, I think I was suffering more as the weeks and months went by. It was as if I had been frozen in the early days and weeks after the death and only now, months later, was I beginning to thaw. And as I began to defrost out of my icy numbness, it only seemed to hurt more. That didn't make sense, but it was true. And now, the holiday season had arrived and that only served to send me deeper into the gloom. I found myself wanting to hide, to cancel family gatherings. I wanted to run away. I did not want to shop for gifts, and I certainly did not want to send holiday greetings. A snarl or a frown swept over my face more often than a cheery holiday hello. I kept thinking of all the things I would never enjoy again: The smell of Mom's pumpkin pie, the happy chatter around the table as Dad carved the turkey, the sweet silliness of his happy grin. The list of what I was missing grew longer and longer each day that I survived. Every day brought new discoveries of the most painful kind. I kept seeing empty spaces at the table and feeling empty plac-es in my heart. It seemed to hurt more now than it did earlier in my grief. Surely I must be slipping into insanity! I thought it was supposed to get better, not worse! I had tried to cancel the family celebration, but they wouldn't hear of it! "Oh no!" they said. "We can't miss… (whatever I had suggested not doing). ”It wouldn't be the holidays without…" That was exactly my point! I didn't want the holidays to be here, and I certainly did not want to celebrate anything! I tried passing off certain family "chores" to other members and once in a while that worked. I decided not to send holiday greetings to anyone, and my gift shopping was limited to catalog browsing and telephone ordering. I couldn't bear the mall crowds, the noise and that horrible, happy holiday music everywhere! Every time I went out, I felt as though I had been assaulted by the Holiday Spirit. The only thing that seemed to sparkle for me were the tears that left little icy streaks across my cheek once in awhile.

I even tried to move, but the family voted to come to my house for the turkey dinner, and so, now, they were gathering in the dining room, waiting for the festivities to begin. The turkey was stuffed, the pies baked, the gravy lump free as best I could without Mother's gentle guidance. But, there was little Thanksgiving or holiday spirit within me. Thank heavens I didn't have to come up with a blessing to say this day! It is a tradition in our family for the youngest at the table to say the blessing. And so it fell to our six-year-old daughter, now an "only child," to find some words of thanksgiving to share with the ever growing-smaller family around the table. She refused, of course, adding more stress to an already impossible day. No amount of yelling, coaxing, bribing, pleading or threatening had inspired her to serve as the family spokesman. It had become a battle of wills between a mother and a daughter, something sim-ilar to several "engagements" that my mother and I had endured. Finally, at the last moment, alone with me in our kitchen, she sighed and relented. "But I will only say grace at dessert," she said. "Good enough," I said with relief. I had always been thankful for dessert - just like my dad, her grandpa! It was a quiet meal, filled with awkward moments and many sniffled tears. After the pie was served, our daughter asked us to join hands in a circle (a la Walton style) and she looked around the table, giving each one of us a full moment of her gaze. Then, she drew a long breath and said, in her small, but clear, child voice, "Thanks for the little while..." Ahhhh! What other words could have said so much! It took a child to remind us of the moments we did have! We each loved someone, and someone loved us. Find those memories and cherish them. Remember first that they lived, not that they died. I want to remember the life, not just the death! Live through the hurt so that joy can return to warm your heart. No matter which holiday it is for you, and no matter the season of your grief, say thank you for a life well lived and loved. It wasn't long enough - it never would have been. But it was a little while. They lived. We loved them. We still do. Thanks for the little while.

~ By Darcie Sims

Copyright 2001 Bereavement Publishing, Inc.

l-888-604-4673 (Hope) Reprinted from "Bereavement and the Holidays", a "Best of Bereavement" compilation containing stories, articles and poems about coping with grief during the holidays.


OUR CHILDREN... REMEMBERED

Birthdays

Trista

Michael Blackwell

Joel Delgado

Cody Gilbertson

Robert James Hay

Shane Leggett

Michael Miller

Melissa Richardson

Delaney Rossman

January December

Nathanial James Gary Flynn

Shane Graham

Randy Johnson

Anthony R. Limongello

Bryan Lohr

Mark Matta

Anthony Milano

Jennifer Petty

Kristin Marie Schryver

Diana Vanderbilt

Adam Brewer

Jeremy M. Chaffin

Michael James Corcoran

Robert T. Cummines

Gabriel Aaron Hall

Brittany Johnson

Kimberly Klopp

Paul Matheus

Frank Joseph Pepe

November

Anniversaries

Brina Marie

Bierke

Christopher M. Birchfield

Jeremy M. Chaffin

Michael James Corcoran

Joel Delgado

Jeremy A. Durivou

Nathanial James Gary Flynn

Brittany Johnson

Paul Matheus

Teddy Niziol

Thomas Nutter

Frank Joseph Pepe

December

Zakkary

Lisa Abernethy

Nicholas Alcaro

Richard Beaulier

Michael Blackwell

David Flint Comini

Ronald “Chip” Farchione

Dominick Genovese, Jr.

Christopher Helbing

Jason E. Leever

Ryan Radcliff

Michael Villani

Matthew Voorhees

Jessica Woltcheck

January November

Lillianna Pearl Boyer

Eric Brooks

Owen Clagg

Zoran Curic-Krulj

Gabriel Aaron Hall

Robert “Tito” Hill

Louise A. Matthews

Delaney Rossman

The Garden Of Angels at North Meadowlawn Cemetery

in New Port Richey was established as a living memorial

to our children. Brass plaques, showing your child’s

name and dates, can be purchased for display on the

cenotaph at a cost of $110.

For more details, please ask at one of our meetings, or

call the chapter number: (813) 273-8721.

NORTH MEADOWLAWN GARDEN OF ANGELS


THANKSGIVING

You may ask, “What do I have to be thankful for

now that my child is dead?” After the death of a

child, where is the joy in a day off from work? What

pleasure can we derive from sitting around a table

when someone is missing, and an uttered prayer of

thanksgiving echoes hollow in our hearts?

Maybe we have been concentrating on the loss

which has brought the overwhelming sorrow of

death, and have forgotten the complete joy of life.

When I remember laughing brown eyes, a mischie-

vous grin, a scraped knee that Mommy could fix, a

new word learned, even the memory of the realiza-

tion that I had a baby boy, I have a great deal to be

thankful for. I had 1½ years of a dream come true,

and I’m truly thankful I had my child.

Sure, the agony of grief, the anguish of losing my

precious child to death, the torture of wanting to see

that child grow and mature and the pain of never

knowing, rips me up. There is no Thanksgiving in

entertaining these thoughts, so this month I am go-

ing to concentrate on the Living of my child, the

Life that brought me so much joy. In this I am

thankful that Evan was born, thankful that he lived,

thankful that even for those short 30 months - I

lived them too. Even so, as he lived once, I live now

and want a productive life.

I am thankful I have come that far in my grief

work to know I want to live and remember the

good times without sorrow. And, I am thankful for

my husband, who stood by me during the rough

times… the husband who is the father of the child

of our love. In him I have found my child, in our

marriage I have found love, and that love taught us

how to love that child. I am also thankful for you,

my real friends - Compassionate Friends.

~ By Edie Kaplan

TCF, Ft. Lauderdale, FL

Death is not the extinguishing of the

light, but the putting out of the lamp

because dawn has come.

~ Rabindranath Tagore

Burying infants, we bury the future,

unwieldy and unknown, full of promise

and possibilities, outcomes punctuated

by our rosy hopes.

The grief has no borders, no limits,

no ends, and the little infant graves

that edge the comers and fence-rows

of every cemetery are never quite big

enough to contain that grief.

~ Thomas Lynch

I HAD A DREAM

I had a dream the other night

It was a miracle, you see.

I rocked you in my favorite chair

And held you close to me.

I sang to you a lullaby

So sweet and clear and fair;

But then awoke, I called your name,

And knew you were not there.

As darkness then engulfed me,

I started to softly cry,

“I love you so, my baby,

Why did you have to die?”

I pray for sleep to come again,

And hope that I will see

Another dream just like before,

With my son held next to me.

~ By Sherry Schwande

TCF, Fond du Lac, WI


On Thanksgiving Day, 1994, two of my three young adult sons, Erik and David, were killed in a freak car accident. Years after the accident, my husband and I were at David’s college alma mater for a holiday event. I was in the dessert line, when a woman came up to me and said, “I saw your name tag - are you David Aasen’s mom?” After doing a double take (it had been some time since I had been asked what used to be a rather common question), I replied with much appreciation, “Yes, I am!” With those three, almost magical, words this person gave me five gifts. Her first gift was saying David’s name. Instead of just thinking to herself, Hmmm, I bet that’s David Aasen’s mom but I better not say anything, she said something. Her second gift was sharing a story with me about how her daughter, a classmate of David’s, still treasures the friendship she and David shared. Acknowledging that I’m still a mom was her all-important third gift. While my sons’ deaths have resulted in my becoming a bereaved mother, death cannot take away the fact that I am, and always will be, Erik and David’s mom. The fourth gift was permission to share a bit of my grief journey with her. Since their deaths, I ex-plained, there haven’t been any truly easy, carefree, feeling-on-top-of-the-world days, but taking each day as it comes has been the most “doable” way for me to go on. Her questions and manner did not make me feel obligated to cover up my grief and was the fifth gift. I felt valued for my honesty, and my integrity remained intact. The warmth of those five gifts has lingered on in my heart and has comforted me. As I reflect on the experience, I marvel at how just a few simple words had such an impact. I have come to the conclusion that most bereaved parents want nothing more than the opportunity to talk comfortably with others about their children. Just being able to share stories about our sons and daughters in a safe place, along with the permission to mourn in our own way and for as long as we need to, even for a lifetime, is what matters most to us. The real treasure comes when others introduce our children’s names and stories into an everyday conversation. Knowing our sons and daughters are remembered and live on in the hearts and lives of others is a measure of the meaningful legacy that our sons and daughters have left to us and to the world.

~ By Nita Aasen, TCF St. Peter, Minnesota In memory of my sons, Erik and David Aasen

RESOLUTIONS

Every time the holiday season comes to a close, I feel as if I can hear a collective sigh of relief. This year was no different except that the sigh seemed louder and longer than in past years. Some years are like that for us. This one was certainly like that for me. No matter how difficult I thought the holidays would be to get through I was wrong. In some ways they were more difficult and in others, surprisingly, they were less difficult. The reality is that you and I, no matter how we anticipated the holidays, did get through them. We did survive the holidays and though it may be difficult for you to believe this now, there is no reason that this new year shouldn’t be better. Which brings me to a favorite topic for this time of year, New Year’s resolutions. Resolutions that I think are most helpful are those that concern our well-being. Above all else, resolve to take better care of yourself. Try to eat right and exercise. Find ways to nurture yourself—both your body and your mind. Remember all things in moderation. Seek advice from others when you need it and above all, ask for help when you need it. You won’t always get the help when you ask for it, but remember, if you don’t ask for it, you surely won’t get it. Another thing you can do to have a happier new year is to become more involved in your chapter of The Compassionate Friends. If you’ve not come to any meetings, or if it’s been a while, give it a try. Commit to attending at least three meetings. If you were to attend only one, you would not necessarily get a very good idea of what our meetings are like. Join us and make your needs known to us. This newsletter is another way you can become more involved in your chapter. Let us know what works for you and what doesn’t. Consider becoming a contributor. Tell us how we might be able to better serve your needs. And have a happier New Year!

~ By Pat Akery, TCF, Medford, OR

WHEN WORDS BECOME GIFTS


Held annually the second Sunday in December, The Worldwide Candle Lighting unites family and friends

around the globe by lighting candles for one hour to honor and remember children who have died at any

age from any cause, all of them too soon. Candles are lit at 7 pm local time around the globe, in formal

candle lightings and in homes, creating a virtual wave of light as families gather in remembrance of

children who will never be forgotten.

We hope you can join us.

The doors at Gulf Harbors Civic Center will open at 6:30 pm, and our special candle lighting ceremony will

begin at 7 pm with the lighting of the first of four candles. The ceremony will include music, poetry

readings, speaker, a DVD presentation of the children’s pictures, and the lighting of individual candles for

our children (candles will be provided.) Fellowship, finger food, beverages and desserts hosted by TCF

members will be available before and after the ceremony. Pot luck dishes are welcome, but not required.

Please let us know your plans to attend by filling out the form at the bottom of this page and mailing it to:

DIANE SMALLZE, 3242 Chauncy Rd, Holiday, FL 34691. If you want your child’s picture to be

included in the DVD send their photograph with the form. You can also send your details and a digital

photo by e-mail to: [email protected]

Directions to Gulf Harbors Civic Center:

From SR 54: Turn right onto US 19 then left at Floramar Terrace, (the second traffic light) The Civic Cen-

ter is ½ mile on the left.

From points South: North on US 19, pass SR 54, then left at Floramar Terrace to the Civic Center on the

left.

From points North: Traveling south on US 19, turn right at Floramar Terrace, (the fourth traffic light after

Main St.) The Civic Center is ½ mile on the left.

------------------------------------------------- PLEASE RSVP BY NOVEMBER 20th -----------------------------------------

YOUR NAME: ……..………………………………………………………………………………………………….

ADDRESS: ………...…………………………………………………………………………………………………...

CITY/STATE/ZIP: ………...…………………………………………….......................................................................

TELEPHONE NUMBER: …………………………………………………………………………………………….

EMAIL ADDRESS: ………..………………………………………………………………………………………….

CHILD’S FULL NAME: …………………………………………….. INCLUDE IN PROGRAM: YES… NO….

NUMBER OF ADULTS ATTENDING: …..………… NUMBER OF CHILDREN ATTENDING: ……....…

POT LUCK DISH CONTRIBUTION: ………………………………………………………….(NOT REQUIRED)

7 PM, SUNDAY DECEMBER 8TH, 2013

GULF HARBORS CIVIC CENTER, 4610 FLORAMAR TERRACE, NEW PORT RICHEY, FL

THE COMPASSIONATE FRIENDS OF PASCO COUNTY

WORLDWIDE CANDLE LIGHTING


LOVE GIFT DONATION FORM

Your Full Name: ___________________________________________________________

Your Mailing Address: ______________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

Child’s Name: ________________________________ Relationship To You: _____________________________

Donation amount: _____________________________

MAIL TO: THE COMPASSIONATE FRIENDS, PASCO COUNTY CHAPTER, P.O. BOX 1376, ELFERS, FL 34680 THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT

LOVE GIFTS

Love gifts have been gratefully received from:

Chris & Rowena Hover, in memory of Robyn Elizabeth Hover

Silvana & Goran Krulj, in memory of

Zoran Curic-Krulj

Jean Limongello, in memory of Anthony “Duke” Limongello

Donna & John Nicholson, in memory of

Amy Nicholson & Tyler Nicholson

Linda Pepe, in memory of Frank Joseph Pepe

OUR CORPORATE SPONSORS

We acknowledge the following companies, and thank them for their sponsorship and

continued support:

JPMorgan Chase

Life Care Center of New Port Richey

Meadowlawn Memorial Gardens

CORRECTIONS

THE COMPASSIONATE FRIENDS OF PASCO COUNTY THANKS YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT!

We are a non-profit, self-help organization, staffed entirely by volunteers who are themselves also bereaved parents. We receive no form of funding and rely on your generous donations to keep our chapter running.

We are always looking for volunteers who can spare a little time to help us with some of the many tasks involved in the day to day running of the chapter. For more information, please ask at one of our monthly meetings, or contact us by telephone or e-mail (details below in the newsletter memorials section.)

For a donation of $50, you can place a full page memorial, devoted to your loved one, in the issue of your choice (you may include items such as a special poem, photographs, or a personal message for your child.) For a $25 donation, you can place a half page in the newsletter. Both are on an availability basis. If you are interested in having a full or half page memorial, or have any questions, please call the chapter phone line (813) 273-8721, or contact us via e-mail at [email protected]

Love Gifts are living memorials to our children, usually

given on anniversaries, birthdays, holidays, etc. When

making a gift, please include your name, address, the

name of the child the donation is in memory of, and your

relationship to them. Love Gifts can be brought to any

meeting, or mailed to: The Compassionate Friends, Pasco

County Chapter, P.O. Box 1376, Elfers, FL 34680. A

tear-off slip is included below for your convenience.

We want to make sure that the content of our newsletter is accurate and up to date. Please let us know if you change your address or if our records are in any way incorrect.

WANT TO HELP?

MEMORIAL IN THE NEWSLETTER

LOVE GIFTS


THE COMPASSIONATE FRIENDS

PASCO COUNTY CHAPTER

P.O. Box 1376

Elfers, FL 34680

Telephone: (813) 273-8721

www.tcfpascocounty.org

Chapter Leader

Jean Limongello

Asst. Chapter Leader

Patty Castine

East Pasco Meeting Leader

Wayne Lopusnak

Little Lives Group Leaders

Chris & Rowena Hover

Newsletter Co-Editors

Rowena Hover

Jean Limongello

Treasurer

Chris Hover

Secretary

Diane Smallze

TCF FLORIDA

REGIONAL COORDINATORS

Alice Watts

Telephone: (352) 475-3162

E-mail: [email protected]

Becky Barch

Telephone: (850) 509-3303

E-mail: [email protected]

TCF NATIONAL OFFICE

The Compassionate Friends

P. O. Box 3696,

Oak Brook IL 60522-3696

Tel. (toll-free): (877) 969-0010

www.compassionatefriends.org

BIRTHDAY THOUGHTS FOR

MY SON DUKE

Sometimes I’m wordless

When I feel you with me at night

Or in the morning

Or when dragonflies near me lite.

What might

I say to you this year, son,

Ten years gone from my sight?

Words aren’t enough when memories

Call feelings. I love… I miss… I invite…

Your birthday memory presence

To be my comfort and my light.

By Jean Limongello, TCF Pasco County, FL


THE COMPASSIONATE FRIENDS, PASCO COUNTY, FLORIDA

MEETING INFORMATION

When: Third Wednesday of the month

Where: Life Care Center, 7400 Trouble Creek Rd., New Port Richey, FL 34653

(SW corner of Rowan and Trouble Creek)

Upcoming Meetings:

Nov 20th

When: of the month

Where: Nouveau Hope Center, 33913 State Road 54, #102

Wesley Chapel, FL 33544

Upcoming Meetings:

Nov 12th

nov 2013 jan 2014 pasco county chapter, fl 2013 …the compassionate friends, pasco county chapter 2...

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