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Correction: Havenbrook's Better Together meeting

Havenbrook Funeral Home, 3401 Havenbrook St., has established Better Together, a social gathering designed to build a community of friends. The group will meet monthly with it’s first meeting at 4 p.m. on Oct. 30. The first meeting date was incorrect in Sunday’s Transcript.

Discussion

October 21, 2012

Havenbrook to start Better Together

By Shana Adkisson The Norman Transcript

NORMAN — The staff at Havenbrook Funeral Home sees firsthand on a daily basis the impact that losing a loved one can have on an individual.

“There are a lot of individuals that have lost a loved one that can’t get back into the community and they have a tough time making friends. When they have spent 20-40 years with somebody and now they are voided out of your life, it is hard to get into the routine of finding friends again without having that loved one there,” Lisa Burkhart, Havenbrook staff member, said.

To help bridge the gap, Havenbrook Funeral Home, 3401 Havenbrook St., has established Better Together, a social gathering designed to build a community of friends. The group will meet monthly with it’s first meeting at 4 p.m. on Tuesday. Guest speaker will be Jan Astani.

“She is a wonderful motivational speaker,” Burkhart said.

The gathering also will include dinner.

Activities that Havenbrook has planned for Better Together meetings include teaching individuals how to use Facebook, Skype or email, a Christmas and Thanksgiving meal and bingo. Grief counselors also will be available from time to time, Burkhart said.

“It’s going to more of a social gathering. We will do some games to get to know each other better,” Burkhart said. “What we want to do is make it fun and light-hearted. And we want to give them the opportunity to get back involved, rather it is with the community or if it’s just back involved with activities.”

There is no age limit to the group and individuals who also have been through a divorce are invited to attend Better Together meetings.

“It’s still the same thing. If you are with an individual for many, many years, it is hard to get back in touch with what’s going on and it’s hard to make friends,” Burkhart said. “We’re really excited. We’ve had many individuals ask for a program like this. It’s not so much grief all the time, I think we want to incorporate each other and we want to incorporate fun so they look forward to coming in.”

 

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