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All Our Relations Hospice and Retreat Centre at first appear to be strange bedfellows, but they are not. They are two sides of the same coin. In combining the two we have created a concept that is unique, forward-thinking and timely – one which perhaps most importantly, speaks to our soul. As more and more of the population ages and is faced with its own mortality, the awareness of the "big" questions of life and death become foreground for us.
All Our Relations, one of Waterloo Regions newest charities, is all about breathing new life into that foreboding and inescapable truth that is ‘Death and Dying’. Our refusal to accept the inevitability of our physical mortality often leaves us unprepared to cope with the needs of a dying loved one, and therein lies the enormous need that will be addressed by All Our Relations.
The last few days and weeks of a dying person's life are too often filled with stress and trauma and do not allow an opportunity for loved ones to spend quality time together. Caregivers are too often harried and worn trying to cope at home, or families must spend their last times together in non-private, impersonal hospital rooms. There is no chance to ‘say goodbye’.
All Our Relations is creating a seven bed hospice and retreat centre that will fill the specific needs of the dying and their families, by providing a tranquil setting in which life’s last journey can be taken in an atmosphere of dignity, support and love. Unlike other area facilities, the hospice will not be limited to cancer patients, and being non-denominational, specific and individual needs can be accommodated.
The retreat centre adjoining the hospice will offer workshops related to death and dying, as well as care-giver advice, grief counseling and a wide range of topics relating to body, mind, emotional and spiritual growth.
The Hospice and Retreat Centre, are, to quote Gandhi, "different aspects of the same state", each support the other. The Retreat Centre provides the Hospice with a source of volunteers and income from its programs while providing guests, family of those dying in the hospice and participants from the community with a beautiful, safe environment from which to explore their lives and their questions. The Hospice provides a service to the community and the individuals who would use it, while allowing All Our Relations with a chance to be of service, honour the sacred and glimpse spirit.
All Our Relations has recently purchased land in Bloomingdale (Woolwich township) which backs onto the Grand River, and is now seeking funding for the Hospice and Retreat Centre’s building fund.
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