Transforming the pain of grief into the elixir of hope.

- Reverend Simon Stephens, Founder, TCF

Our message is, once again, business before pleasure: Chapter Annual Reports Our newsletter last month included a request for each Chapter to complete an Annual Report. This report is our main source of up-to-date contact information, to understand what resources each Chapter may have available to share with others, and to learn of any areas where a Chapter may need assistance. So with thanks to those Chapters who have already responded, this newsletter includes a reminder to those who have not yet got around to it. (Note: Round Tuits may be offered at a later date ). We have simplified the form from previous years and reduced the amount of information requested, so please do not be deterred. Please let us know If you have any problems with printing and/or scanning, as we have various workarounds available. Thank you for your continuing support and for all you do for bereaved parents. Eileen and Andy Bond, Chapter Development

Nomination Forms:

This month we are attaching a copy of the nomination form for positions on the TCF Canada National Board. If you know of someone willing and able to support TCF at the national level, we would love to hear from you. We would like to build a board that has representatives from across Canada and that is made up of individuals with many different interests and skills. You know who these people are, so please encourage them to complete and return a nomination form. The deadline for nominations for the next election of directors is May 5, but the board can make appointments between elections, so it is really never too late.

National Newsletter - March 2017

“Introducing Cathy Sosnowsky - Director at Large” It is indeed a pleasure to introduce a recent appointment to your Board of Directors for TCF Canada, Cathy Sosnowsky. Cathy’s modest bio, below, does not make mention of her involvement with the Salmon Arm, BC, chapter when she and her husband, Woldy, lived there for a couple of years recently. She has also served on the TCF Canada Board of Directors in the past, and now she’s ready again to share her experience and her strengths with all of us. Did I mention that she was one of the organizers for the International Gathering in Vancouver, BC, in 2005? That she has travelled to Australia (2002), California, USA (2012) and Germany (2016) for International Gatherings? There is so much more…. Welcome back to the Board, Cathy!

Cathy started attending The Compassionate Friends of the North Shore (North Vancouver) a few months after her son Alex died (age 17) from a freak accident, in 1992. Since then she has been treasurer, telephone contact, newsletter editor, facilitator, and chapter leader. TCF saved her sanity in her early grief, and she is still benefitting by being there for the newly bereaved. Writing poetry also saved her, and she

National Office

The Compassionate Friends of Canada

#4 - 69 Campbell Crescent SE

Medicine Hat, Alberta T1B 1J7

Toll Free: 1-866-823-0141

(403) 487-1802

E-mail: nationaloffice@tcfcanada.net

Website: www.tcfcanada.net

National Executive:

Donna Rodin (Medicine Hat, AB)—President

Susan Doyle Lawrence (Victoria, BC)—Vice-

President and International Liaison

Barbara Kachur (Saskatoon, SK)—Secretary

Judy Dowd (Campbell River, BC)—Treasurer

Eileen and Andy Bond (Ottawa, ON)—

Chapter Development Committee

Directors at Large

Gary Kachur (Saskatoon, SK)

Cathy Sosnowsky (Vancouver, BC)

Kathy Brooks (Victoria, BC)

has published a collection of her grief poems, Holding On: Poems for Alex. Cathy also suffered the loss of her adopted children to the streets and to drugs. She wrote about surviving these experiences in Snapshots: A Story of Love, Loss, and Life. Cathy has given workshops on “Writing as Healing” at many TCF gatherings: national, international and regional. A retired college instructor of literature and writing, Cathy values these workshops, which allow her to continue to teach, without marking!

Here’s a description of the workshop that Cathy will be presenting in Medicine Hat in August:

Writing to Heal: Writing, whether in

prose, poetry, or gibberish, can release emotions and lead to a better understanding of one’s grief. In this workshop you will be invited to write in response to a number of prompts, and, if you wish, share what you have written. Whether you are a compulsive writer already, or have been blocked by your loss, this session should help awaken deep feelings. Pen and paper is all that is needed.

A Testimonial:

I’ve attended Cathy’s writing workshops a few times over the years, so I have heard what people have written during the sessions, and what they have shared with me afterwards—powerful stuff. Here’s a poem that I wrote in under ten minutes in response to the word prompt “firsts”, which was introduced with some examples. My mind went immediately to thoughts of the birth of my first baby, Michael, and how his death by disappearance and drowning was my first experience with a significant loss.

Firstborn Son

Your birth was my first delivery.

Your wrinkled pink body was handed to me,

swaddled in a blue flannelette receiving blanket.

Gazing at your wee face, I wondered about your future.

There were red roses back in my room.

Three years later your body was handed to us again,

this time encased in a grey steel canister, welded shut.

“Don’t open it,” they said. “Don’t look.”

There were white roses on your casket.

Your death was my first delivery

from innocence.

-Susan Doyle Lawrence, TCF Victoria, BC

Cathy Sosnowsky Alex Sosnowsky

On-line registration coming soon!