Soaring Spirits Loss Foundation to Mark its Five Year Anniversary

Jan. 23, 2013 - PRLog -- (Simi Valley, CA) – When Soaring Spirits Loss Foundation (SSLF) was launched in 2008 its mission was simple … to offer hope and resources to the widowed community.  On May 27, 2013 the Foundation will mark its five year anniversary; and in five short years, through its unique programs, such as Camp Widow™, You Are Not Alone, Widowed Village, Widow Match, and Widow’s Voice Blog; SSLF has touched more than 1,000,000 widowed people. These are people in search of answers, comfort, support, and most of all hope. SSLF’s reach spans across all 50 states in the U.S. and around the world in the countries of Singapore, Canada, Kenya, Iraq and the United Kingdom to name a few. “I can’t believe that an idea that was conceived on a paper napkin has evolved into this amazing organization; one that has impacted the lives of so many in a positive way. Which tells me there is a great need for peer-based grief support and programs such as ours in the widowed community,” said Michele Neff Hernandez, founder and executive director of Soaring Spirits Loss Foundation.

Camp Widow™ is SSLF’s premier program and this year it will reach a milestone as well – five years and its seventh session. Camp Widow™ is a two-day workshop; and it provides a gathering place for widowed people who share a common loss; and who have met on-line via various social media outlets or grief support services the opportunity to come together and put their arms around each other, literally. The San Diego Marriott Hotel and Marina in San Diego, California is once again the location for Camp Widow West™, which will be held from June 28-30.  Over the last four years – some 2500 hundred widowed people have attended Camp Widow™; attendance for this year’s Camp is expected to be the highest. In 2012, Camp Widow™ expanded to the East Coast and held its first workshop in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Camp Widow East™ will be returning to Myrtle Beach April 19 – 21, and will once again be held at the Myrtle Beach Resort and Spa at Grand Dunes.

Camp Widow™ is an inclusive event and all are welcome to attend – widows, widowers, remarried widows and widowers and their current spouses, anyone whose life partner has died; gay or straight relationships, religious or non-religious, all ages and all circumstances.  

Soaring Spirits Loss Foundation is not only a resource for the widowed community, but it has also become a “go to place” for information on grieving for family members, friends, colleagues and associates of widowed people wanting to help their loved one or friend. “What do I say to someone who has lost their husband or wife or child or partner?” This is the number one question searched on the SSLF website, which prompted the foundation to launch – You Are Not Alone.  The You Are Not Alone program features business size cards with information about Soaring Spirits Loss Foundation’s Newly Widowed Checklist and on-line forum the Widowed Village, as well as other web and print media components. The idea is to provide these cards as hand outs to a newly widowed person, their friends, family, or member of their support system to let them know that the programs of SSLF are designed to connect them with other widowed people any time of the day or night.

SSLF provides a unique peer-based support community for grieving people with a special emphasis on those who are widowed, a segment of the bereaved community that has been underserved and often overlooked. The Foundation addresses this need by providing practical tools, reliable resources, and access to a community of peers for widowed persons. For more information about the Soaring Spirits Loss Foundation contact Michele Neff Hernandez at contact@sslf.org or visit the website at www.sslf.org.  The Soaring Spirits Loss Foundation is a 501 (c) 3 non-profit corporation based in Simi Valley, California.