Sharing our Work and Opening My Heart

Today I have 2 more faces to share and another couple of releases have come through that I will share in the future.  Its wonderful to let these beautiful people be part of my life, but its also hard knowing that the losses are so profound.  Its again finding the balance of the importance of the work and the personal losses that become so clear.  Our society seems to isolate grief from our daily routines so learning to embrace each life and treat it reverently and lovingly is stretching the normal boundaries.  I am so thankful for this beautiful courtyard here at my home, for the cabin where I can retreat, but mostly for the photographers, board members, employees and volunteers who help in so many ways to allow each of us to give our best without being too overcome with grief.  Special thanks today to Stephanie and Kelly C who completed shoots this past week, Charlie who worked for us yesterday and to Clane who will be working for us tomorrow.

Today I share Clay pictured here at the top of this blog.  He is 9 years old and has leukemia, he was photographed by Leo.

We are moving toward the photographers annual meeting and have some special treats up our sleeves for these important folks.  It is March 6th and we could still use a few more donated homemade desserts.  If you are a baker please consider sharing your talent and tasty cake, pie, or tarts with these talented volunteers.  We know the photographers especially appreciated that Soul families prepared the dinner last year, so if you are a Soul family we would especially love to have your help.

Don’t forget to mark your calendars for the yearly album making work party that will be on April 17 from 10 til 8 with cleanup help needed after the closing.  We have named the party in memory of Shirley Schulke and will have her granddaughter’s photo prominently displayed.  We are hoping that you will sign up to make albums if you are a precise crafts person and if you feel your talents lie in cutting the paper and the bindings, ribbon, etc we will need that type of help also.  We will need to find a donor to provide pizza like my sister so generously provided last year and finally each attendee is encouraged to donate a beautiful piece of paper for the books.  I dropped by Paper Source while in UVillage thanking Paint the Town for their generosity.  Most of the papers on the wall at Paper Source are appropriate for this project, except for the very light filmy ones and the extra thick sheets.  The gifts we make that day are truly stunning and are loved by our Soul families.  Its a great way to meet people and really make a difference for our families.

I also share today Luke and his family who were photographed by Scott.  Luke is a teenager with multiple disabling issues.  His story can be read on our gallery soon. 

We want to thank Fred Moody who writes all the biographies for our ‘clients’.  Fred launched the work of Soulumination into the general population with the article that he wrote that was published by People Magazine.  The article came out on Valentine’s Day of 2005 and Fred has stood by our side since the beginning, serving on the board, editing my blog and now has moved into writing all the bios.  Fred also came up with our name- Soulumination.  We are most grateful for his dedication.

Now off to our regular weekly planning meeting for the office staff.  Megan and Lew doing a great job, but we need to touch base solidly each week to be sure we are moving forward effectively.  We are thankful for the recent memorial donations.  With this type of generosity we have funding to serve each family that makes a request.  Please spread the word and know that you can refer people yourselves to our project, if you have questions about the procedure please feel free to call 206-322-4396 or email to info@soulumination.org.  Also its been great to receive more likes on facebook and we are now over 725, please click that like button so you are up to date on what is happening and so we can show possible new donors that our reach is significant.  In love and peace, Lynette