Local chapter of Soaring Spirits sets inaugural meeting

When Jeanine O’Donnell lost her husband Stephen on July 6, 2023, after 40 years of being together, she worked hard just to move forward each day. Doing the things she knew she had to — paying bills, running her business, changing all the things she needed to update, being with her family, watching her granddaughter whenever she could — left her plagued with fear, doubt and emptiness. Stephen had been her biggest cheerleader, her best friend and partner in her business and her life.

“I found it impossible some days to get through the most basic tasks, like getting dressed or going grocery shopping,” she said. “My brain felt like a bowl full of mush that some invisible force just kept whipping up, creating chaos — unable to calm or focus.”

Then an annual doctor’s appointment a few months later started a journey toward healing.

“I went for my annual appointment at Women’s Wellness, and Dr. Holly McKeil, after discovering my loss, gave me information about Soaring Spirits International. Their purpose was to connect widowed people to each other and provide immediate access to support. I looked up the website and learned about their educational programs, the ability to get a pen pal, their plethora of resources, and Camp Widow,” said O’Donnell. “I called a friend of mine who had lost her husband a month after me, and we made plans to attend in San Diego.”

Soaring Spirits founder Michele Neff Hernandez, who was widowed at 35, made it her purpose to ensure those who lost their support system would not have to face it alone. Twenty years later, with an estimated 4.5 million people served, she is continuing this mission. Through annual Camp Widow events, as well as building regional groups through volunteers who believe in this important work, support continues to spread across the globe.

O’Donnell decided to take the helm and create a local chapter, along with co-leaders Kathy Weiss and Karen Cameron. Weiss’s husband passed shortly after Stephen did, and because of her longtime friendship with O’Donnell, she was eager to help. Cameron had been on the Soaring Spirits website and asked about potentially starting a chapter, so she was connected to them both. Cameron lost her husband seven years ago, and coincidentally, the date that Weiss’s husband had passed is the same as Cameron’s birthday.

“When you are with a group of widowed people, the connections are instant — it might be the way you lost your person, or the fact that you still have children in the household, decisions that you have to make, or the jewelry or tattoo you chose to honor them,” said Weiss.

The three women are ready to get started, with their first local chapter meeting set for Thursday, Sept. 4. “The important thing to note about our meetings is they are safe, and it’s a social group,” said Cameron. “We are not grief counselors, but want to facilitate great discussions and connect those who may have things in common.”

All meeting attendees must be vetted by registering under the Widowed Village section of the Soaring Spirits website at widowedvillage.org. They will gain access to the regional group listings all over the world, so they can attend meetings virtually if offered or in person.

“We are working to rotate around the county,” said O’Donnell, “with our first meeting actually being a lunch held at Nicola Pizza in Lewes, and later in the month a dinner at Brick Works in the Long Neck area. Both owners were so kind and accommodating, knowing we would not have a count until a week prior and needing separate checks for those that attended. We understand that can be a challenge for servers, but both believed in our cause! Nicola’s has already been so generous as to make a donation to the organization to help defray the cost of the newly widowed packets that are given to anybody who requests one.”

Approximately 2,800 people are widowed each day in the United States. Sadly, 60 percent of them are left to handle parenting minor children alone. There are so many tasks that need to happen that in even the best state of mind would be difficult. Grief is a long, challenging and unique journey for each individual. Soaring Spirits is available to provide a little personal “GPS” to help navigate the experience.

Contact jeanine@volunteer.soaringspirits.org for more information or to share any questions regarding the local chapter. Visit soaringspirits.org for details on the international organization.