What You Don't Know About Grief.....

 What you don't know about grief, love, and loss is that, for me, there was so much to be grateful for.

Standing in the wake lines at both my parent's funerals, I heard so many stories of the impact they had on others' lives. The bartender at the bowling alley where my dad and his friends sometimes went after work told me she had been a single mom in the 70's and 80's and my dad would slip her extra money. The grey haired guy who told me my dad was his first boss and he remembered how good and helpful he was. His first annual review was with my dad. So many people from his work came and told me stories about my dad. I got a deeper glimpse into how he helped the folks he worked with.

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Jen Wewers
No One to Break my Fall

I used to be a daughter. Now, I'm a 48 year old orphan. It always felt like there was a bit of a buffer between me and death - the buffer being my mom and dad.  They were a generational barrier keeping death clearly on the other side. But now? I'm naked. No one and nothing to break my fall. It's like I'm standing at the spillway at Wyandotte County Lake after a big storm. I look over the edge and hear the water rushing into nothingness. It's terrifying and yet there's a place in me that wonders what it would be like to just fall into the darkness.

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Jen Wewers
Mission Stories: Deep Listening

We know making an emotional connection with our donors and supporters is essential for success in raising awareness and funds for our missions.  At it's most basic we do that through telling stories. But many of us are increasingly uncomfortable with the influence of a formulaic and provocative "let me push your cry button" style of storytelling overtaking our communications

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