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District Rotary Foundation Event Scheduled
You’re invited to join the Friends of the District Rotary Foundation for an information session and social gathering on February 26 from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. Here's the link to Register for this event >
District Conference
Save the Date! Our virtual district conference is one day only: Saturday, April 17, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Goal Surpassed! Hyper-Happy-Dollars Support Scholarships
This week’s meeting included Hyper-Happy-Dollars, to support the program that will offer four scholarships to worthy graduating high school seniors. One scholarship will be named in memory of Keith Klein. With eagerness and camaraderie, and a little prodding at the end, members of the club surmounted the goal of $3,000. Congratulations to all!
Rotarians In the News
The latest issue of Bloom Magazine is full of interesting features, including highlights of our very own Alain Barker and of Jim Sims’ wife, Doris.
Today’s Meeting Link on the Rotary YouTube Channel - https://youtu.be/WCJd4bgOAsw
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OUR PROGRAM:
FOLDING DEATH INTO LIFE
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Jim Bright introduced Joy Kahn Harter. A past president and 14-year member of the club, Joy has participated in and led an impressive number of committees and is responsible for the additional item on the Four-Way + 1 test: “Is it Fun?” Her work with elders and their families has spanned more than 26 years of her professional life. After working at Bell Trace for 15 years, she returned to the Meadowood retirement community to take on the role of director of social work services. Joy’s professional experience is wide-ranging and includes coaching, counseling, case management, organizational development, budgeting, and business planning. A certified Sacred Passage End of Life Doula through the Conscious Dying Institute, Joy is also a Reiki Master Practitioner. Her personal passions include piano, yoga, photos, meditation, reiki, nature, outdoors, and riding on the back of her husband’s motor bike!
Joy’s presentation gave us an opportunity to empathetically explore a conversation about death in a way our culture and habits often resist. Her words were an inspiration, discovery, and guide into ways we can reimagine our view of the passing of life, ways that feel positive, an approach that involves ease and openness.
Being honest and open about death can sometimes be difficult. Stressing about this fundamental truth can be harmful, Dr. Deepak Chopra suggests, and our need to understand the naturalness of death can be as important as sleep and nutrition. Much of the fear of death is driven by the unknown, and yet there is nothing more unifying than our common mortality. Our bodies are destined to die. In many cultures around the world, death is a point of celebration.
Death can be one of the greatest teachers. A book and video called Being Mortal, by Atul Gawande, focuses on what priorities we might have when time is limited, leading to possibilities for a fuller life, a life with purpose and meaning. Even with the inevitability of changes through biology, genetics, or unexpected moments, we can remain the author of our own lives.
The current world catastrophe of the Covid-19 pandemic, with more than 500,000 American deaths, is profoundly changing the way we understand mortality and is leading to a reawakening. As Dr. BJ Miller suggests, we have a choice: either share life with death or be robbed by it.
Joy’s interest in becoming a death doula is very personal. She had two bouts with cancer, and her sister and mother had their own battles. In many ways, Joy feels she was destined to do this work. She felt this intensely when, on September 11, 2019, her mother passed away at a time when she was about to train to be a doula. Her mother continues to be her spiritual and emotional guide.
The world “doula” has Greek origins and originally meant “woman servant.” In the 1960s the word was used to support natural birth. Much like a birth doula, a death doula assists with a life event, supporting individuals and families in a wholistic way, facilitating meaningful conversations. The work can take on many forms, including liaison with medical and other care professionals. Bringing calm and joy to the space, doulas can assist in spiritual, mental, and practical ways.
Joy mentioned that being a doula also feels like an extension of her activities in Rotary. Our motto of Service Above Self connects our sense of purpose in what we do. Our suffering and joy are interconnected. The Four-Way Test, likewise, continues to have powerful resonance in her life. The addition of Fun can be thought of as standing for three concepts. F gives us freedom, the ability to lean into the moment. U provides an opportunity to feel untethered and unattached to old thoughts and patterns. N is for new beginnings, here and now.
Joy left us thinking about the Five Intentions: Discovering What Death Can Teach Us about Living Fully, by Frank Ostaseki:
- Don’t Wait: Be free of pain and forgiveness.
- Welcome everything, push away nothing.
- Bring your whole self to any experience.
- Find a place of rest in the middle of things. Find the quiet place within.
- Cultivate a “don’t know” mind. With curiosity, wonder, and awe, we can learn to let go of control.
Here is a list of Dying Well resources Joy recommends:
Books
The Five Invitations, by Frank Ostaseski - discovering what death teaches us about living fully
Being Mortal, by Atul Gawande - medicine and what matters in the end
7 Lessons for Living from the Dying, by Dr. Karen Wyatt - how to nurture what really matters
Healing into Life and Death, by Stephen Levine
Who Dies, by Stephen and Ondrea Levine - an investigation of conscious living and conscious dying
Die Wise, by Stephen Jenkinson - a manifesto for sanity and soul
Your True Home - the everyday wisdom of Thich Nat Hahn
The Art of Dying Well, by Katie Butler –a practical guide to a good end of life
The Wild Edge of Sorrow, by Francis Weller - rituals of renewal and the sacred work of grief
Websites and Associations
NEDA - National End-of-Life Doula Alliance - www.nedalliance.org
INELDA - International End of Life Doula Association - https://www.inelda.org
Aging with Dignity - www.agingwithdignity.org
The Five Wishes - www.fivewishes.org - ensuring human dignity through conversations that matter
The Conscious Dying Institute - www.consciousdyinginstitute.org
The End Well Project - www.endwellproject.org
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Our February 23 Weekly Gathering
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President Ashley Wesley presided and thanked event producers Natalie Blais, Michael Shermis, Sally Gaskill, and Earon Davis.
Ashley reminded us that Tuesday, February 23, is World Rotary Day. With 116 years of Service Above Self and from its inspired origins in Chicago, the organization continues to flourish across the globe. Today was one in which we could all be proud of the multiple achievements of the organization that impact communities, change lives, and inspire. As Rotary International President Holder Knaack mentions in the latest issue of The Rotarian, the pandemic has been a time of reimagining, of connecting in unexpected ways, and of reflecting on our shared future.
Volunteer Opportunities
A collection of Rotary banners has been found at the IMU, and Kate Cruikshank and Sara Laughlin are leading an effort to restore them. If you’re interested in participating in this project, please send a note to Kate: kcruik7@gmail.com
Hoosier Hills Food Bank. Contact Manager of Volunteer Services and Community Engagement, Ryan Jochim, at (812) 334-8374 or volunteer@hhfoodbank.org for more information or to schedule a volunteer shift.
Wheeler Mission needs volunteers to purchase and prepare sack meals. Sign up for a date and deliver to the Center for Men at 215 S. Westplex Ave. Use the main entrance. See website for more details. www.wheelervolunteer.org
Helping Hands. Visit helpinghands.civicchamps.com or call (812) 727-0838 to sign up to help make deliveries and assist with various activities for individuals in the community.
This Week’s Guests
Guest of Owen Johnson
Rev. Scott Kenefake, Transitional Senior Pastor, First Presbyterian Church
Guest of Jim Bright
Lori Thompson, Columbus Sunrise
Guests of Judy Schroeder
Beau Vallance
Ann Armstrong
Guests of Connie Shakalis
Stephanie von Hirschberg
Fiona Witkowski
Guest of Glen Steenberger
Bryan Boyd
Guest of Alain Barker
Joanie Spain
Birthday
- Glenda Murray, February 24
Anniversary
- Art Lotz, 41 years as a Rotarian
Reporter: Alain Barker
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