Widows group mans hospice Tree of Life
Fri, Dec 18, 2009 
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BY MARK BROOKY
mbrooky@grandhaventribune.com
A group of widows and widowers gets together every Saturday morning at a Spring Lake restaurant — but they don't dwell on their losses.
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The group's members became volunteers for the local hospice after the deaths of their spouses.
"Losing a spouse doesn't mean you have to bury yourself," said Nick Van Slooten of Ferrysburg, who lost his wife in 1999. "You can enjoy life yet — and we do."
The group is in charge of the Tree of Life, an annual fundraiser for Hospice of North Ottawa Community. The tree was put up in the front lobby of the Grand Haven Community Center, 421 Columbus Ave., in late November.
Van Slooten met his second wife, Pat, through hospice. Nick was working in the hospice office when Pat came in to inquire about volunteer work.
"It was six years my husband had died and it was three years his wife had passed away," Pat said. "We met through hospice activity and we've been married seven years (now)."
Another widow and hospice volunteer, Kathy Messenger of Grand Haven, said the support of the group has been very important to each of them.
"We all had gone through the same experience and it just meant a lot for us to be able to get together, be there for each other and be supportive to each other," she said.
The group, which has included up to 14 members, has been putting up the Tree of Life for the past nine years. It was originally located at Harbourfront Place in downtown Grand Haven before being moved to the lobby of North Ottawa Community Hospital for the past few Decembers.
The tree is up at the Community Center for the first time this year.
"I like this location because of the exposure here," Nick Van Slooten said. "A lot of people coming through — it's very observable right here and easy to see — and many, many people get a chance to stop and look at it, and are encouraged to send in donations."
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"We moved the tree from the hospital campus out into the community because this program is all about community," explained Wendy Creason, fund development director for the North Ottawa Community Health System.
The tree itself is also new this year. It took a smaller tree to fit beneath the center lobby ceiling, but the group said the new 9-foot pre-lit tree was easier to put up.
"But we have a lot of fun putting the tree up," Nick said. "... We make a party of it."
Donations are recognized with a dove or star ornament, each inscribed with the name of the person being honored (star) or remembered (dove). Creason said the tax-deductible donations help continue the local hospice's mission to provide compassionate physical, emotional, social, spiritual and bereavement care to enhance the final months of life.
Donations can be left in envelopes by the tree or sent to the hospice office: 18525 Woodland Ridge Drive, Spring Lake, MI 49456.
It is usually Nick who picks up the doves and stars from the hospice office and places them on the tree — after all, he is the tallest member of the group and can reach the top.
Individual gifts have been as high as $1,000, Nick said, but most are in the $20 to $100 range — although they put up doves for much smaller donations.
"They all add up," Pat Van Slooten added.
There were about 1,000 doves and stars decorating the tree as of Wednesday, the Van Slootens said. They expect several hundred more will be added before the event ends at the end of the month.
Donors who would like to collect their dove or star can do so at the tree between Christmas and early January; or for a short time later at Hospice House, located at Heartwood Lodge in Spring Lake Township.
For more information, call Hospice of North Ottawa Community at 846-2015.
On the Net:
www.noch.org/heartwood_detail.aspx?id=124
