Festive Mexican music filled the air as 80 friends, family, volunteers and staff stopped by ABODE to pick up brightly decorated gourmet brunch boxes from FrankieB Bakery and sparkling wine from Judy Tierney of Scout & Cellar as part of our annual Dia de los Muertos Celebration Brunch on Sunday, Oct. 25.

We were delighted that so many of you returned home and joined us on Zoom as we shared our meals and such heartwarming presentations. Many thanks to Kathy Sakai for donating the box decorations, the Threshold Singers for sharing their beautiful voices, H-E-B for supporting our event and to our fundraising committee for putting all the pieces together.

And, of course, many thanks to Frankie and Judy! 

Our Zoom featured so many sweet moments. Especially moving: sisters Pam and Terry sharing their brother Mark’s story. Mark came to ABODE in July and died in August. Pam and Terry recalled various aspects of Mark’s life, including the fact that they hadn’t seen him in decades. Once he arrived at ABODE, the three quickly rekindled their love and the sisters barely left his side.

Pam’s story of our End-of-Life Navigator John helping Mark to “walk” again was such a perfect example of how every aspect of ABODE’s contemplative care can come into play. One attendee wrote, “Did you see all of the eye dabbing going on? I had goosebumps, tears in my eyes and a lump in my throat. What a tribute to ABODE – the staff, volunteers, the mission, the love. It was wonderful.”

Wonderful, indeed. If you missed our Zoom, you can watch the 47-minute recording above.

By the way, thank you and congratulations to Virginia Blakeney! Virginia, as we heard during our Dia de los Muertos Celebration Brunch, has written her first novel, Richilene Trunk, which follows the long historical journey made by families between Europe and the Deep South.

Virginia has reserved 100 copies for us, with all book proceeds going to our Peggy Smarkola Memorial Fund benefiting ABODE. If you’d like a signed copy, please donate $22 to ABODE at abodehome.org/donate. We’ll circle back on how you’d like your inscription to read and how to get the book to you. So many creative ways to support ABODE!

As you know, ABODE operates solely on your donations and on a limited number of grants. With the COVID pandemic stretching so many foundation resources, grants have become significantly more competitive. If you’re able and you’d like to make your end-of-year tax-deductible gifts to ABODE now, we welcome you to donate here.  We so appreciate your support!

Thank you for all you do for ABODE, our Guests, our volunteers and our staff. Please continue to stay safe. We’re thinking of you all.