The HOPE Group

Happy Thanksgiving HOPE! As I sit and reflect upon this past year, I feel grateful for all the members of HOPE. It was a tough past few years with virtual meetings but you all hung in there seeking support as well as supporting others. Thank you!!! I am pleased to say that we are back meeting in person every second Wednesday of the month at 7:30 pm, 200 Unicorn Park Drive, first floor conference room, Woburn, MA.

Our first time back together in person was this month (November 2022). At the meeting we had five members attend…new members and oldies but goodies. It was great to see everyone! We discussed our annual memorial service and decided to postpone it until January 11, 2023. It will give our members time to learn of our return and to send the perfect submission for the service. Email all submissions to donnamcd@me.com by January 4, 2023. Our December meeting will be a regular meeting at the regular time.

If you are looking to find a memorial service in December, The Horn Pond Angel of HOPE statue (Arlington Road, Woburn, MA) holds a service every December 6th at 7 pm. Many of us have stones placed at the statue and attend the service. It’s a beautiful way to come together and remember our precious littles. You do not need to have a stone to attend. Hope to see you there.

If you need additional support this holiday season, we’re only a text, email and/or phone call away. Hope is always available.

Again as a reminder…the December meeting is a regular meeting. Our annual memorial service has been postponed until January 11, 2023. The service will be in person and masks are required for attendance. No food/drinks will be included in the service. Please reach out if you have any questions.

Always…Donna

Looking for a special way to begin the holiday season and remember the child/children you love?

If you have lost a baby through miscarriage, stillbirth or in early childhood, you may feel a very deep loss which few others seem to understand. The St. Augustine community prays for you and invites you to our annual Mass of Remembrance.

Live Stream:

For those who cannot attend in person, this Mass will be streamed live at:

StAugustineParish.org/live-stream

Finally, after much work with Winchester Hospital Center for Healthy Living, the monthly HOPE Group meetings are back in person beginning November 9th, 2022. Here are the details in case you need them…

Our meetings are EVERY second Wednesday of the month @ 7:30 pm.

We’ll meet in the First Floor Conference Room at 200 Unicorn Park Drive, Woburn, MA.

Every HOPE Group member in attendance MUST WEAR A MASK when entering the building. It is a medical facility and we have to abide by their rules from the CDC Covid19 Hospital Guidelines.

Please reach out to us if you need help finding us! Email Donna anytime.

The HOPE Annual Memorial Service is this week, Wednesday, December 8, 2021 @ 7:30 pm. The service will be conducted in a Zoom meeting. We will use the same meeting link as our monthly meetings. If you need the Zoom meeting details, please reach out to us. We’ll happily send them along via DM, text or email message.

We are working hard to have meetings resume in person after the new year. Fingers crossed all goes well. We’ll keep you updated when we hear something.

We at HOPE would like to send our warmest wishes for a peaceful holiday season. Please take time to rest, rejuvenate your spirit and spend time with those that love you. Grieving is difficult, especially during the holidays when our loved ones should be with us.

Sending you all hugs of love.

xo Donna

Hello HOPE. On December 8, 2021 @ 7:30 pm via Zoom, the HOPE Group will be holding their annual memorial service. We will be using the same Zoom link we have been using for all virtual meetings. If you would like to send along a poem/song lyric/photo/letter for the service, please send it to Donna donnamcd@me.com by December 3, 2021. You can read your submission or have one of our members read it for you. Please let us know if you have any questions.

Other memorial service/candlelight vigils coming up include:

November 20, 2021 @ 9 am, St. Augustine’s Church, 43 Essex Street, Andover, MA is having a Mass to Remember for families who have lost a child. See click the link for more information. https://subscriptioninsider.lpages.co/massofremembrance/

On December 6, 2021 @ 7 pm, the Horn Pond Angel of Hope statue on Arlington Rd, Woburn, MA is holding a candlelight vigil. We’ll bring extra candles if you don’t have one! Hope to see you there.

On December 7, 2021, @ 7 pm the South Old Union Church, 25 Columbian Street, South Weymouth, MA is having a Service of Remembrance for families to remember children. Call the Pregnancy Loss Phone Line at 781-624-4177 for more information.

Our next HOPE meeting is this Wednesday, September 8th @ 7:30 pm via Zoom. Let us know if you need the meeting details. All are welcome

In case you need more support than our monthly meetings, the Massachusetts Chapter of the TEARS Foundation is meeting virtually on September 13th at 7 pm. Email massachusettschapter@thetearsfoundation.org to Register. Regularly their meetings meet on the first Monday of the month.

Tomorrow night, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 18th at 8 PM we invite you to LIGHT A CANDLE for one of our members, Julie O’Callaghan Paige and her family. On Sunday, Julie lost her husband Billy to pancreatic cancer. We’d like you to join us to send Julie, her four daughters, and their family our love and light. Lighting a candle together we remember Billy and send strength to Julie and their daughters as they journey through the next several days, weeks and months without him. Please POST A PHOTO of your lit candle with a message for Julie as a REPLY to this post, on Julie’s FaceBook page, or in a post on Rindy’s HOPE FaceBook page. Please feel free to share as well. We want Julie and the girls to feel the strength of the HOPE Group and hopefully feel comforted by our love and concern for them.

Thanks.

Hello HOPE families! At last night’s meeting I shared a list of local pregnancy loss events. Here’s the info in case you missed it!

8/12/21 Instagram Live @ 1pm with new book author Rachel Lewis, “Unexpecting: Real Talk on Pregnancy Loss” interview. To order Rachel’s book, click HERE.

8/14/21 HOPE Group socially distant walk at Horn Pond, Lake Street, Woburn MA @ 10 am. Meet us in the parking lot just past the pond on Lake Street.

8/28/21 Angel Babies 5K Walk free online event @ 10 am. Go to runsignup.com and search for Angel Babies for signup. Cost is $25 and participants can walk/run on their own or join Angel Babies in Buzzards Bay MA for the event.

9/26/21 The Tears Foundation Rock and Walk event @ 9:30 am to honor babies born too soon. Click HERE to register. The 5K will be held at Nashoba Regional High School, Bolton MA.

Our HOPE Group monthly meetings continue to be held virtually as of now. We’ll keep you posted.

All my best, Donna

Hello Hope families! This summer is flying by quickly. The pandemic has hit us all and hopefully you’re getting outside breathing in the fresh air. Don’t blink because the fall will be here before we know it. Our meetings continue to occur virtually via Zoom. I’ll be posting/sending new Zoom links beginning in September. Please be on the lookout for a Facebook post with the information. We continue to be contacted by new families experiencing loss. Please consider coming to a meeting to support these families and receive support for yourself as well. It’s important to pay it forward. In addition to our monthly meetings, we’ve scheduled an in person outdoor walk at Horn Pond in Woburn for 8/14/21, Saturday at 10 am. Please meet us in the main parking lot. We can sit around and chat or take a healthy walk around the pond. If you follow Lake Avenue in Woburn, you should see the parking lot on the right just past the pond. We will keep you updated as well as to when we are meeting in person. Love to all! Reach out to us if you need more support. Until then…Donna

Hello HOPE! This month’s meeting will again be virtual via Zoom on 5/12/21 @ 7:30 pm. If you need the Zoom meeting details, please reach out to us. We’ll gladly send the details to you. Going forward we still can not meet in person at Unicorn Park. Winchester Hospital has not given the green light allowing outside groups to hold meetings in their buildings. As the weather warms up, maybe we could meet at Horn Pond in Woburn by the Angel of Hope statue? We could all bring a chair or take a walk and talk. I’ll keep you posted.

The Angel of Hope Statue at Horn Pond in Woburn, MA is a beautiful memorial to children gone too soon. Several HOPE families have placed a memorial stone at the base of the statue. If you are interested in purchasing a stone, the details are below. The next installation will be in the Fall of 2021. Memorial Stones cost between $100 and $150.