Hello HOPE! It’s that time of year again when we are accepting submissions of poems, readings, song lyrics and/or letters to remember your babies during our annual HOPE Group Memorial Service. This year’s service will be on Wednesday, December 11, 2024 in our regular meeting space: 200 Unicorn Park Drive, Woburn, MA. The service will begin at 7:30 pm in the first floor conference room.
If you’d like to submit something to be read during the service, please email Donna by December 1, 2024 at donnamcd@me.com and we will include it in the service program. Hope you can make it in person too! All families are welcome.
Remembering Ornament Swap is a crafting event organized each holiday season for families who have experienced the loss of a baby to miscarriage, pre-term labor, stillbirth, and neo-natal death. Many of the HOPE Group members have participated in the past. It is a lovely tradition and a beautiful way to honor the memory of our babies that we love and miss so much. This past season, there have been over 300 participants from five different countries. Below are the details from the Remembering Swaps Website:
Registration will be open from November 1st – November 10th, 2024.
Regardless of whether you’ve participated in past years, please be sure to re-read our simple rules as a first step.
Once registration officially opens, you’ll be able to fill out our registration form here on the blog.
All the details about this year’s Swap can be found on our website, and updates will also be shared regularly on our Facebook Page beginning November 1. If you are new to the Swap, please review the following 3 pages, as many of your questions will be answered there.
Hello HOPE! We continue our monthly meetings every second Wednesday of the month in the first floor conference room of 200 Unicorn Park Drive, Woburn, MA. The meeting time is 7:30 pm.
Next month there are two upcoming events that some of our members may be interested in attending. One is the ACDK Hope Foundation fundraiser on November 9th and the St. Augustine’s Church annual Mass of Remembrance on November 2nd.
The ACDK Hope Foundation is a non profit organization that provides free memory boxes to grieving families of pregnancy loss. ACDK gives these boxes to many local hospitals in the Boston area. They need our help through donations to support their work.
ACDK is hosting a night with Jimmy Plunkett, a local musician to raise money. Please consider attending or donating if you can not make the fundraiser. The event is on Saturday, November 9th from 7 to 11 pm. The event will be at the American Legion, 162 Winn Street, Burlington, MA. Tickets are $25 per person and $30 at the door. Presale tickets are accepted on Venmo @Julie-Paige-3
Also, St. Augustine’s Church in Andover, MA is having a Mass of Remembrance for children lost through miscarriage, stillbirth, or in early childhood. The Mass is on Saturday, November 2nd at 9:00 AM at St. Augustine, 43 Essex St, Andover, MA. If you’re looking for a nice way to remember your child during this time of year, the mass is just right.
If you are looking for more support other than our monthly meetings, please remember to contact us at donnamcd@me.com. As always in HOPE, Donna.
Hello HOPE! Our monthly meetings continue this summer and into fall and winter. We meet at 7:30 pm in the first floor conference room of 200 Unicorn Park Drive, Woburn, MA. All meetings are free and open to anyone experiencing pregnancy loss. Our meetings have been meeting faithfully every month since our group first began in 1979 so please drop in if you need support. Please contact Donna at donnamcd@me.com if you need more information.
Have you ever listened to Podcasts? We’ve found one called “All There Is” by CNN host Anderson Cooper. It addresses all kinds of grief from losing a parent, a spouse and even a child. An episode called “The Greatest Loss” is about Stillbirth. It’s a great listen if you’re looking for a connection and can’t find a meeting. The episode is raw but makes so many connections to pregnancy loss.
With the coming fall months, we are beginning to plan for our annual memorial service in December. Please reach out to us if you’d like to contribute to the readings.
Thinking of you all. Remember we always have HOPE.
Hello HOPE! We are having our annual memorial service again this year on Wednesday, 12/13/23 @ 7:30 pm. It’ll replace our regular December meeting. All are welcome. The service and our meetings are held in the first floor conference room of 200 Unicorn Park Drive, Woburn, MA. If you would like to submit a reading to the memorial service program, please send it to Donna at donnamcd@me.com by Friday, 12/08/23. You are welcome to bring a reading to the service to share even if it does not make the program.
The Angel of Hope Candlelight Vigil at Horn Pond will also take place on December 6th at 7pm. The vigil is held rain (snow) or shine and will be held at the Angel of Hope Statue on Arlington Road, Woburn, MA. Flowers and candles will be provided by the committee. Stone pavers can be purchased and placed at the base of the statue.
Thank you all for attending the memorial service in January. It was small, intimate and just what the new year needed. We remembered all of our HOPE babies and missed members who were not present.
We start February with an in person meeting. This month’s meeting is on Wednesday, February 8th @ 7:30 pm. We meet in the first floor conference room of 200 Unicorn Park Drive, Woburn, MA. Masks are required for the meeting. We hope to see you in attendance. Any questions, please contact us.
Recently we donated items to be placed in the memory boxes that the ACDK Hope Foundation generously donates to local hospitals. Jeana, Christine and Julie do an amazing job keeping this beautiful blessing and their children’s spirits alive. The items we donated include silk roses tagged with The HOPE Group’s contact information along with our history. To learn more about the ACDK Hope Foundations work, look for them on Facebook.
We hope our members and those new to HOPE are doing well this month. If you need more support, please email Donna.
A new year has begun and we hope that you are starting it with a focus on yourself. Take time to reflect and remember your beloved child/children.
We start the year with a memorial service for the first meeting of the year. We hope you can make it.
The HOPE Group Memorial Service is scheduled for January 11, 2023.
The service will replace our regular monthly meeting. We will not be serving refreshments after the service. Masks are REQUIRED for attendance at the service AND at all meetings.
The memorial service will begin at 7:30 pm in the first floor conference room, 200 Unicorn Park Drive, Woburn, MA. Please arrive early if you’d like to help set up prior to the service.
If you would like something read to honor your precious child/children, please email Donna donnamcd@me.com by January 6th.
The HOPE Group Memorial Service is scheduled for January 11, 2023.
The service will replace our regular monthly meeting. We will not be serving refreshments after the service. Masks are REQUIRED for attendance at the service AND at all meetings.
The memorial service will begin at 7:30 pm in the first floor conference room, 200 Unicorn Park Drive, Woburn, MA.
If you would like something read to honor your precious child/children, please email Donna donnamcd@me.com by January 6th.
Reminder: December’s meeting is a regular meeting.
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.
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.
Date:
November 19, 2022 (Saturday)
Time:
9:00 AM
Where:
St. Augustine Church, 43 Essex Street, Andover, MA
Live Stream:
For those who cannot attend in person, this Mass will be streamed live at:
