While the first week of December signals the start of the holiday season for many people, for others it marks a different set of traditions.
Honour a Life, an annual remembrance celebration hosted by the North Shore Hospice & Palliative Project, is marking its 25th anniversary this week.
The event was first hosted in 1992 after a small group of local health-care workers and volunteers got together to offer an outlet for bereaved members of the community who wanted something outside of a traditional funeral service to honour their loved ones.
For the past 25 years, the event has taken place during the first week of December and is generally offered to family members and people who have lost someone in palliative care during the preceding 12 months.
“There’s people who have been coming for almost 25 years,” said Jane Jordan, program assistant at North Shore Palliative & Supportive Care Program. “Often people have made it a ritual, like it’s their one night where they go to remember the people that they’ve lost in their life. … It sort of opens the door to the holidays.”
Jordan, who has been involved with Honour a Life for the past 17 years, said the event has grown in terms of the number of people who attend the event – and the significance it has for them – throughout the past quarter century.
“Most of the initial invitations are sent to people who’ve had a loss on the palliative care program, whether it be at hospice or in the hospital or at home, and also in residential care. Back in 2000, we had maybe a couple hundred deaths through a year. Now we have close to 900. The growth is tremendous because there’s so many more people registered on the palliative program, so therefore it generates a lot more family members to connect with after a death,” she said.
The non-denominational event is held at the West Vancouver United Church and will feature a reception followed by a ceremony where attendees can follow the traditional candlelit walk to the West Vancouver sea front were cards are placed on a memorial tree.
The North Shore Hospice & Palliative Project is a partnership of the North Shore Hospice Society and Lions Gate Hospital Foundation backed by a diverse group of doctors, health-care professionals and community leaders passionate about helping people with their end-of-life care.
Around 250 people are expected to attend this year’s Honour a Life event, as it’s grown to become an important gathering for people who want the opportunity to honour and share their memories of dearly departed individuals in a supportive, non-denominational setting, states a news release from the Lions Gate Hospital Foundation
For the past 16 years Vbon Alderking has attended Honour a Life following the passing of his mother in January 2001 at Lions Gate Hospital.
The LGH Foundation release states how traumatic it was for Alderking to lose his mother around the holiday season because of how important Christmas was for him and his family.
“To have lost her at that time, it was the most devastating and traumatic time in my life,” Alderking noted. “Honour a Life has helped me honour my mother and understand the importance of going through the trauma, losing someone and coming through the other side.”
Like past Honour a Life events, this one will feature a guest speaker, a performance by local music therapists and a photographic presentation, followed by the candlelit walk.
Asked why the event has grown in stature during the course of its 25-year run, Jordan said conversations and general openness around death and dying have become more widely accepted.
“I think people are more open to seeking out support for grief and loss,” she said. “They’re able to address that, it’s not the taboo conversation that you have with your doctor behind a closed door. People welcome the opportunity to remember people in a safe community environment. I think it’s just our culture’s changing a lot because we’re understanding grief is a natural response to loss and we should be able to honour that without feeling like it’s something we need to deal with alone.”
The Honour a Life event is taking place Thursday, Dec. 7 at West Vancouver United Church at 2062 Esquimalt Ave. in West Vancouver.
A reception and opportunity for attendees to write a memorial card is scheduled for 6 p.m. followed by the official ceremony and candlelit walk at 7 p.m.
All are welcome to attend. More information: lghfoundation.com/events/honour-a-life.
