Staten Island's FIRST Death Cafe
A write up of Staten Island's FIRST Death Cafe
By GailW
This was Staten Island's First Death Café, although others had discussed it before. Some sitting right at this table with us!
Attending a Death Café prior to hosting one (even a virtual Death Café) was a plus, and the Death Café guidelines were amazing and so very helpful. This Café was held at Panera Bread, which is pretty public and open. Initially there was some apprehension about this, but it wound up being beneficial and drawing more people in. Individuals were waiting to talk with us, and they are interested in attending future Cafés. A shout out to the staff at Panera Bread at the Staten Island Mall and the Manager who had an amazing cake waiting for us! Death Café without cake? Not here!
We were 14, and began the night with introductions and what brought us here. We had a funeral director, an end-of-life planner, a spiritual radio show host and producer, an engineer, an EMT, and a retired peace officer, just to name a few of the diverse group. There were conversations about advance directives and the availability of them, once completed, NDEs and the reoccurring theme of ‘Dying with Dignity’ came up several times and how the latter really ties into choice. By the end of the evening, when evaluations were done, talk of where the next Café would be held, began.
We are thinking of Sunday afternoon, November 8th at a more private location, (with fewer distractions) for Staten Island’s Second Death Café. We will probably alternate between a Monday night and a Sunday afternoon every 6 – 8 weeks. This will be firmed up with a more definitive schedule once the Death Café meeting place is decided upon. A couple different people are looking into some interesting ideas and spaces. This is very exciting and the feedback was positive. If you are thinking of hosting one ~ DO! It just might change your life.