As the communications director for Hermann Sons Life, it is my responsibility – and my privilege – to deliver information about new programs to our members. Those of you who know me, know that I am very passionate about Hermann Sons Life and all that it stands for. I consider it an honor to work for this organization.
So it was with tremendous pride and excitement that I got to write the article that appears on the front page of the August issue of the Hermann Sons Life newspaper. The article is titled “Healing Hearts: New program focuses on grief support.”
The article announces to our members the creation of a focused service cause. What is a “focused service cause” you might ask and why does Hermann Sons need one?
Since the very beginning, even when there was only one lodge and life insurance was not a part of Hermann Sons Life, its members have supported each other. When a member died, the other members would pass the hat to help pay for the funeral and support the widow and children. And members still support one another in their time of grief. They attend funerals, lodges send sympathy cards and make memorial donations and we take food to the bereaved family.
And since the beginning, Hermann Sons Life members have supported their communities with fund-raisers and their volunteer time.
Hermann Sons Life is known for doing these things. But as Grand Vice President-Fraternal Kim Krueger explained it, “By making grief support its focused service cause, Hermann Sons Life will be concentrating its community outreach efforts on providing grief support to others and to supporting organizations that provide grief support services in Hermann Sons Life communities all across Texas.”
And, she continued, “Hermann Sons Life has a strong presence in our communities and we are only getting stronger. Hermann Sons Life lodges, individual members and the home office are doing all kinds of good and covering a lot of ground in a lot of areas to assist many communities. By focusing our efforts on grief support we can make an even greater impact on our hometowns. When asked what we do, we will now be able to tell people we strengthen community and one of the ways we do that is by providing grief support to members and our communities.”
We have already gotten the ball rolling on this focused service cause.
The first thing we did was make information about where to find grief support services available on the Hermann Sons Life website. Anyone looking for grief support can view our online resources. There they will find information about hospice organizations and grief support groups that already exist all over Texas. You can use the search tools to find these groups just by typing in your zip code.
To make the greatest impact we need our lodges to be a part of this focused service effort. They can do that in a couple of ways. For lodges looking for a Make a Difference Day project, this would be a great time to get started. They can check out the resources on the website that I just mentioned and host a special event with proceeds going to a grief support group in their community or they can support our new grief support session at Hermann Sons Life-Camp.
That’s right; Hermann Sons Life is establishing a grief support session at Camp. The first half-week session will run from July 5-8, 2017, and will be held at our own Hermann Sons Youth Camp. It will be open to children, members and non-members, ages 6-17. Volunteer program staff and licensed therapists will work together to make this a special stay for children who have lost a loved one.
Wow. What a great service we will be providing to children and teens who are dealing with the loss of a loved one. Kim, Executive Camp Director Katie Klohn and Engagement Director Jennifer Cernosek (who used to be the executive camp director) recently visited a grief support camp in Granbury. They got to see how the camp works and talk with the therapists and staff. They were so excited about the opportunity for Hermann Sons Life-Camp to have a grief support session of its own, that they spent the four-hour trip home planning for next summer’s first session.
Kim explained that a detailed application and screening process will be created for campers who want to attend this Grief Support Camp session to ensure we will be able to provide each child with a healthy and healing experience.
To keep the cost of attending the camp to a minimum, money will be raised during fund-raisers hosted by the Grand Lodge during the coming year. Local lodges can take part by hosting fund-raising events in their hometowns or by sponsoring a child to attend Grief Support Camp. You can even make a donation right now.
We hope to be able to extend this service in the future by providing weekend retreats for adults suffering from a loss.
The first fund-raiser for Grief Support Camp will be held in October. On Saturday, Oct. 1, the U.S. Gymnastics Gold Medal Championship Team will perform at the AT&T Center in San Antonio. Through a special arrangement, Hermann Sons Life is selling tickets and a portion of the cost of each ticket sold through Hermann Sons Life will be designated to support Camp’s grief support session. Use this flyer to order your tickets.
“For a company that sells life insurance, I can’t think of a more appropriate focused service cause than grief support,” Kim said. “I know that I can think of quite a few stories of how grief has dramatically impacted people close to me. I’m sure you can also think of several examples or maybe have been impacted yourself.” Well said, Kim.
I encourage you to share your thoughts here about ways you or your lodge are thinking about supporting grief support services.