Second Annual Memorial Butterfly Release held

Photo by Shari Harris
Three Rivers Hospice staff turned out in force to make the event a success.

Three Rivers Hospice-Licking office held their Second Annual Memorial Butterfly Release Friday at the Intercounty Pavilion in Licking’s Old City Park. The event was in memory of the 120 clients of the Licking office who passed away in the previous year. The Licking office serves clients within a 90-mile radius of Licking.

Families of those 120 clients were invited to attend the event. They were greeted by welcoming staff, and a program was presented by Bereavement Coordinator Amanda Blaylock and Chaplain Richard Ware.

Blaylock explained that the butterfly release was an evening of hope, peace and healing, and was another way in which the hospice offers support to families during the grieving process. Though grief is universal (everyone experiences it), it is also intensely personal and can be lonely. She described the butterfly as a symbol of transformation, becoming something new. Love doesn’t end with a person’s death, she explained, it is transformed by loss and lives on to be expressed in many different ways.

Chaplain Ware shared his own experience with grief, and the role faith can play in the grieving process. He described the Lord as the God of peace, the God of comfort and the God of hope.

Hospice staff did a mass release of butterflies, in addition to opening several individual envelopes. Family members received envelopes containing single butterflies, and once released, the colorful sky dancers could be seen flitting around the area, strengthening their wings then flying away.

Photo by Shari Harris
Butterflies took a few minutes to stretch their wings before soaring.