By Wendy Seaman Special to The Freeman

WAUKESHA – Children are role models of faith and trust. They depend on the adults in their lives to make their world turn; a world that they tend to see as existing for and revolving around them.

But adults are only human, and too often, death, divorce, separation, incarceration, military deployment, immigration and other loss can shake the security of the child-caregiver bond, inflicting guilt and turning a child’s world upside down.

Healing Hearts of Waukesha, Inc. is there to cushion the impact, and help both children and their adult caregivers transform grieving into life-changing energy.

Healing Hearts started beating after Kathryn Kuhn and her husband, Steve, moved to Waukesha from Chicago, where the couple had done grief facilitating through Rainbows, an international organization that has helped 2.5 million children navigate through loss since its 1983 birth.

“We married later in life and had foster children, yet we still yearned to do something meaningful for other children,” said Kathryn Kuhn, volunteer executive director of Healing Hearts. “Then we saw the ad for Rainbow facilitators and it was the perfect answer.

“As facilitators in the Chicago Rainbows program, we learned how to guide children through a loss event, so that unresolved grief would not negatively affect their future. Once we did it, we were hooked.”

The Kuhns found many effective children grief support programs in the greater Milwaukee area, but literally nothing for children in Waukesha.

“We rolled up our sleeves to get something in place for grieving children before the 2010 holiday season was upon us. The effects of grief is always magnified during that time” Kuhn said.

The first step was to send planning meeting invitations to area faith organizations and funeral homes. The six churches and two funeral homes attending those first pioneer meetings became the charter members of Healing Hearts of Waukesha when it incorporated last year as a charitable nonprofit organization.

The eight charter organizations, who provide financial support manpower and facilities, are Ascension Lutheran Church, Cesarz, Charapata and Zinnecker Funeral Home,Salem United Methodist Church, St. Mary Catholic Church, St. William Catholic Church, Southminster Presbyterian Church, Church and Chapel Funeral Services, Inc. and First United Methodist Church, which is the current site of Healing Hearts programs.

Pete Reinl, director of grief support for Church and Chapel Funeral Services, is also a Healing Hearts board member who involves himself in the six-hour volunteer facilitator training program.

“There is a plethora of traditional adult to child counseling services in the metro Milwaukee area, though we are aware of some good peer-to-peer grief support programs for loss through death ” Reinl noted. “But there was no Waukesha-based grief support of any kind for children before Healing Hearts.

Peer-to-peer support is important for grieving children.

“It’s important to note that grieving kids often feel very much separated from their friends,” Reinl said. “They tend to feel that no other child has ever gone through their experience. When they meet other peers in crisis, it frees them up to express their feelings in a safe, empathic setting.”

The Healing Hearts program offers 14-week, peer-to-peer support sessions for both children and their caregivers and the program covers a broad spectrum of loss events. Caring, trained volunteers facilitate each session.

The children’s Healing Hearts RAINBOWS program includes games, artistic expression, keeping journals, weekly themes, discussion groups, forgiveness activities and a special meal at the conclusion of the 14 weeks.

PRISMS programs, for the adult caregivers of Rainbows children, has a dual purpose.

“We focus on helping caregivers process their own grief, and we give them the emotional and spiritual tools to support and guide their children to healing,” Reinl said.

Both Reinl and Kuhn were excited by the success of the first counseling program.

“We had three groups of Rainbow kids with about five children per group. There were two adult Prisms groups – one conducted in English and one for Hispanic adults. I am always awed at the strength displayed by grieving people to just face a day,” Reinl said.

The second 14-week session for Rainbows and Prisms starting Monday has been expanded to include grieving teens in high school. Judging by the current flow of applications, the spring session promises to double and possibly triple the attendance of the first session.

Kuhn is both thrilled by the unexpected response and concerned about whether there will be enough money and volunteers to cover program supplies and facilitator positions.

First United Methodist Church member Tom Smith recognized in the Waukesha Freeman on November 21, 2010

WAUKESHA – Waukesha North’s chapter of Future Business Leaders of America recognized Tom’s Heating Service on American Enterprise Day, which was Monday. American Enterprise Day was started more than 30 years ago to recognize and celebrate the free enterprise system Americans experience every day.

Smith began his business, located at 212 W. St. Paul Ave., while he was a student at Waukesha High School. Before he had his driver’s license, he would take his bike out to fix many coal, wood and oil-burning furnaces. He earned credit and a grade for his early business-startup efforts. After graduating in 1953, he officially incorporated in 1954. First the focus continued to be on repair, but then the company expanded to installations of furnaces and boilers, and eventually central air conditioning units.

One sign of his success is the recognition he has received by getting the President’s Award from Carrier four times.The award was given for the training of company sales and service people and the rate of customer satisfaction. Only six other dealers nationwide have received this award four times.
 

Andrews commissioned for service

From the Waukesha Freeman - Friday, November 19, 2010
WAUKESHA – On Sunday, Scott Andrews was commissioned for service in mission in a worship service at First United Methodist Church. He will be serving in mission for two years in Costa Rica starting in January.

There was a “Beyond our Borders” luncheon following the service at which time Andrews shared about his passion for mission work. He had previously been a Volunteer In Mission (VIM) in Costa Rica with a work team from Minnesota. At that time he helped to build retaining walls for a school playground in the town of Carrillos. His passion for mission work there led him to apply to become a program assistant, for which he was hired.

Beginning in January, Andrews will be working for Strong Missions, which hosts short-term volunteer groups. His new work will include translating, hosting volunteer groups at the mission’s housing facility, working on construction projects and encouraging more people to come as volunteers. First United Methodist Church, 121 Wisconsin Ave., strongly supports him in this endeavor and will be gathering school supplies until the end of November for Andrews to take with him.

Project done as part of students’ community health practicum
By Heather Markovich
Special to The Freeman, November 20, 2010

WAUKESHA – The phrase “a little change can go a long way” has started to ring true for five Carroll University nursing students who held their clinical at the First United Methodist Church.

As part of their community health practicum, senior nursing students Elizabeth Lovell, Jaclyn Smieja, Sharon Ponting, Katie Schrems and Carly Nielsen were asked to identify a health need in the community.

“Students are asked to do a windshield survey of the needs in the community, and to present an idea and implement a plan to help with a certain issue,” said Diane Sokolowski, clinical assistant professor of nursing.

After attending a health care reform meeting at First United Methodist Church on Sept. 19, Ponting proposed an idea to focus on the nutrition of donations to the Food Pantry of Waukesha County, especially given the growing need for donation assistance.

A good portion of the food donations given to the pantry originate from the church, so the students set their focus on educating the congregation and improving the quality of the food.

The group identified the food donations given to be unhealthy, consisting of starches, high sodium and that there was little to no protein.

“The big question was how can we change the mentality toward healthier options, both on and off the food pantry shelves?” Ponting said.

On Oct. 31, Smieja, Ponting and Schrems attended the services at the church and gave educational presentations to members on nutritious donations. The students also handed out brochures on the risks associated with type 2 diabetes and hypertension. They also gave out shopping bags with lists of the special diet program needs.

The students then returned to re-educate the congregation and to check on the progress Nov. 7.

During the first week in November, the students saw an outpouring of healthy food donated by the congregation. More than 215 pounds of nutritious food was donated. Another 60 pounds of food was donated since the group’s last calculations. And out of the huge amount donated, only less than 10 items did not meet the special diet program needs.

In about two weeks, Lovell and Nielsen will begin working with the food pantry, educating them on how to use the food given.

Nielsen pointed out that the food pantry currently has a “special diet” section of foods that isn’t stocked well, and that they would like to make that section the standard rather than only a small part of the pantry.

Director of Caring Ministries Dorothea Honn oversaw the progress of the students at the congregation.

“We love the relation between the church and Carroll. We’ve been very blessed to have this experience,” said Honn, who is also a registered nurse.

The students reflected that the clinical gave them an experience they wouldn’t have had the privilege of receiving if they were in a traditional medical setting.

“In a hospital setting, you’re only able to affect a few patients,” Nielsen said. “We’ve affected such a large part of the community. It’s eye-opening what an impact five people can have.”

The food donation was presented by the students to the pantry on Tuesday.

The students hope that their small project will spread throughout the surrounding communities and that future donations to the food pantry are healthier.

“It just takes a little step to get the ball rolling,” said Schrems. “But in the end, the effect can be so large.”