SEATTLE — An estimated 6% of Americans are living as a widowed person.
While millions have walked a familiar path of devastation across the globe — hundreds in Seattle are finding hope and community in Camp Widow. The day-long seminar is the creation of Soaring Spirits CEO Michele Neff Hernandez. It provides practical tools and research-informed resources for all widowed people.
For more than a decade, Camp Widow has traveled the country connecting widows to other widowed people.
Before hundreds of widows gathered for the first-ever Camp Widow Seattle in late April, a small group of “campers” got the chance to go on an exclusive field trip to Bedrock Industries. The Seattle studio is home to handcrafted glass hearts that have become a cherished symbol of connection, love, and resilience within the Soaring Spirits and Camp Widow communities.
For 14 years, Soaring Spirits has handed out thousands of Seattle-made hearts to widows all across the country. Hernandez calls them a representation of the ongoing nature of love.
“When we choose to make something like (the heart) the primary gift to someone, it’s magical,” said Hernandez.
During the field trip, each participant picked hearts to either hold or give away to someone else who was grieving.
For new friends Kathie Neff and Nancy Gunning, the hearts and the widowed community represent hope.
“When we’re around our people, we can cry,” said Gunning. “We can talk about things and these people really understand.”
Neff said after losing her partner of more than 51 years, she is forging a new path.
“Now I have a new life to create,” Neff said. “Though it tears me up, I’m strong and I’m doing it.”
