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The Alcove Center for Grieving Children and Families is starting a program called Tender Living Care, to provide support groups for children coping with the life-threatening illness of an adult family member.
Connie Weidner, volunteer group leader for 6 years,
creates a children’s grief workbook for The Alcove
Book signing set for Sunday, November 16 from 11 am to 1 pm at Northfield center
Connie Weidner of Galloway Township trained with the second class of support group facilitators, back in 2002, and has been volunteering here ever since, mainly running groups for the youngest children who come to The Alcove – the 3 to 6 year olds.
All of that experience has led her into a new venture at age 71 – writing. She has recently self-published a grief workbook for children, called “A Place in My Heart,” based on her experience at The Alcove.
“Everything in (the book) comes from my experience with a child asking a question or having a problem,” said Weidner, shown at left in the 3-6 year old room at The Alcove with memory boxes and a copy of her workbook. “One of the saddest experiences, and there have been many, was a little boy who was only five years old, and said to me on evening, ‘Miss Connie, I have a real problem. I’m forgetting what my mother looked like.’”
She said The Alcove’s philosophy is to help children figure out a way to handle their problems. So she asked him what he thought would help?
“He said, ‘I know what I’ll do.’ He decided he’d bring pictures of his mom in the next session. We made picture frames. He showed other children her picture, framed one and put the rest in his memory box. It seemed to really help him.”
That exchange led her to think
of writing a workbook with a theme of ‘Here’s a problem,’ followed by an ‘I know what I’ll do’ activity to deal with it.
For example, the second activity in the book starts with, “I wish I could have told my loved one goodbye.”
That's followed by, “I know what I will do. I’ll say goodbye now and write a letter to my loved one.”
The page then leaves room for writing the letter.
“I have leaned a lot from the children. The children were behind my writing the workbook,” she said. “I’ve never done anything like this before. It didn’t take long to write because it was all there for six or seven years. It came from the kids. The only credit I take is, I put it together.”
The workbooks are available for $10 each by calling 609-484-1133 or by stopping in or sending a check with your name, address and phone number to The Alcove at 950 Tilton Road, Suite 108, Northfield, NJ 08225 (across from AAA in Broadcast Center). All proceeds go to The Alcove, to help keep grief support free of charge in southern New Jersey.
To celebrate Connie's achievements, The Alcove is hosting a book signing party on Sunday, November 16, 2008 from 11 am to 1 pm at the Northfield center.
The artwork in the book was done by Gay Walling, the former director of the Noyes Museum in Galloway Township and a friend of Weidner’s.
For more information on becoming an Alcove volunteer, call 609-484-1133.
Please come to International Gift Fair at Mainland High Schoolon Saturday and Sunday, December 6th and 7thThe Alcove will have a table again this year at the International Gift Fair, run by the South Jersey Fair Trade Alliance, at Mainland Regional High School from 9 am to 5 pm on Saturday, December 6 and Sunday, December 7, 2008.
We will be selling our fundraising items such as Moonbabies pins, notecards designed by children in the program, and Connie's book. All items sold at the fair must be Fair Trade or produced locally. It's a great place to find unusual gifts for the holidays, and a fun way to support nonprofits and craftspeople all over the world!
Help The Alcove by wrapping gifts at BordersThe Alcove has been chosen by Borders at Hamilton Mall to run its nonprofit holiday gift wrap table from late November to Christmas. There is no charge for the gift wrapping, but shoppers have the opportunity to give a donation, and last year the effort raised about $3,500. To volunteer for a three-hour shift, please call Kelly at (609) 484-1133. It's a great way for adults to volunteer with older children!
Mini Golf Tournament Fun Despite Wind, Rain
OCEAN CITY _ Many thanks to the Alcove group members and supporters who gathered on a windy, rainy Saturday for a Mini Golf Tournament sponsored by Gillian’s Island Adventure Golf.
Gillian’s and its workers made the day possible, and were incredibly helpful to us, even cooking and serving hamburgers for our event, and helping with whatever we needed.
Organized by Operation Share the Love teen volunteers Rhiannon Neal and her helpers Kaitlyn Decker, Dawson Neal and Sadie Mangold, (Kaitlyn, Sadie and Rhiannon below) the October 25,
2008, event raised $300 to help keep grief support services free of charge for families in southern New Jersey.
It also provided a day of fun for several Alcove families, many of whose play was sponsored by a donation from Mack & Manco Pizza in Ocean City. Two of the families even won tickets to the Cheetah Girls concert in Atlantic City, donated by the Atlantic City Convention & Visitors Authority.
Many more attendees won prizes donated by
Enzo’s Pizza in Somers Point, and Ocean City Boardwalk businesses the Shirt Shack, Shriver’s Salt Water Taffy and Fudge, Ocean Treasures, Strand 5 Movie Theater, Bag Boutique, Fudge Kitchen, Breezin’ Up, Cloud 9, Boardwalk Peanuts, Toy Safari, and Jilly’s T-Shirt Factory.
Thank you so much to everyone who attended, or donated to make the day special!
Volunteer group facilitators, thrift shop volunteers, office helpers, technical support volunteers, Operation Share the Love teen volunteers, Board and committee members, and special event helpers all had a chance to spend time together and get to know each other.
Please visit the Carrabba's web site at www.carrabbas.com to find out more about this wonderful restaurant!
