Planning Ahead - Laurie Powsner

Laurie Powsner represents The Funeral Consumers Alliance of Princeton (FCAP) It  is a volunteer-run, not-for-profit organization that is not associated with the funeral industry. They provide objective support, education and advocacy. They offer tools to empower us to make informed, thoughtful decisions about funeral and memorial arrangements before they are needed.

Laurie spoke to us about planning our funerals and referenced funeral homes and NJ laws in our area.

Funeral arrangenments are something that most people leave to their survivers. The survivors are then under the pressure to make decisions at a very streeful time. FCAP can help, if we plan ahead.

Some points that Laurie made:

• Prices vary enormously from one funeral home to the next. Even for the same thing!
  • Direct cremation ranges from $550—$5,065!
  • A plain cardboard cremation box can cost you $20—$671! 
  • Driving the body from the place of death to the funeral home? $175—$785! 
  • A graveside service? $100—$1,295!
• You shop online for almost everything, but good luck here because only 6% of NJ funeral homes post their prices online.
• We recently asked every funeral home in NJ for their price list. 28% sent them right out (yay you!). 14% needed two asks and another 14% needed three to seven asks! A whopping 30% didn’t respond or outright refused! What? Aren’t they trying to sell something? Can you imagine calling a restaurant and asking them to send you a menu and being told “The menu is really too complicated for the layperson to understand” or “we don’t give out the menu unless you come in person to get it.” Yikes! What are they thinking?

For more information and to donate to FCAP, got to their website, shown below.

https://fcaprinceton.org/

Authoiring a Religiuos Book - Carmen Viola

Carmen Viola wrote a book on religion.

He told us about the events in his  life that lead to the write of his book.

The book is baesed on a collection of illustrations that came to Carmen over a period of time. The illustrations were completed by another person, Travis Hanson, that he be became aware of via the internet and had never met.

The illustrations involve the reader in the ongoing conversation and narrative of what it means to follow Jesus. It is designed to be used for personal reflection, group study, or in facilitating family discussions. The book contains many layers of meaning achieved through the use of light, color, symbols and so much more...including hidden "Easter eggs" to find!  

Carmen told of some of the other  events that happened during the writing of this book, in addition to the find of his colla borator artist. One was the bonus his wife received just in tim eot pay for the set up for the printing of the book, another was the gift that came 'out of nowhere' for the actual printing of the book and then his boss volunteered to help produce online webinars about the book (called God Talk).







For more information on the webinar about this book, visit:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC78CCEVqZnan8RG9tD3zMuw

A train Trip Across Europe - Bill Sweeney

Bill Sweeney and his wife, Karen, wanted to visit relatives in Europe and travel between them by train. One set lived in Poland and the other in the UK. This made for an interesting trip, vacation and well as a nice sight-seeing trip.

They flew from the US to Germany and then Poland. A relative took them to the town where Karen's relatives lived. After a few days of visiting, they departed by train.

 

Their next stop was Berlin, Germany and some sight-seeing there, including the central trains station, the wall and Checkpoint Charlie.


























Then it was on to Belgium With a stop at Brussels




















and the Mardasson Memorial (Bastogne) 

Next was travel to the Chunnel and on to the UK.

Once in the UK, they picked up their final train to get to their relative north of London. 

Bone Wars - Kathy Tassini

As a follow-up our presentation on Haddonfield's Dinosaur, Hadrosaurous, Kathy Tassini gave us the "Rest of the Story'. Following discovery of our famous dinosaur, there was a rapid  growth of paleontology. During this rapid growth, two men vied for recognition as the greatest... that began the Bone Wars. They were Edward Drinker Cope (University of Pennsylvania) and Othniel Charles Marsh (Yale).

Both men used their own fortunes to finance their work to discover more bones and thus more and different dinosaurs.

Cope and Marsh started out ad friendly collaborators and marsh had stayed in Haddonfield meeting with Cope at his house.

But Marsh began paying the people that were digging up the bones from the same locations that Cope was using to send him (Marsh) the newly excavated bones.














And Marsh was having the bones shipped to him at he home in Yale.

This did not make Cope very happy. And they both started spending more money to discovery more bones faster that the other and publish their findings faster.

The net was that both men ran through their fortunes and had to seek buyers for their bones to support themselves. Cope's bones with offered to the U of P, but they wouldn't pay, so his bone went tot NYC. Marsh was able to sell his collection of bones to Yale.

Gum Health - Victoria Caldwell

Victoria Caldwell spoke to us about how the health can affect not only our overall health but specifc, and long term issues. Who knew???

It seems like an easy thing to do on a daily basis.But keeping our gums and treeth clean is often overlooked. And when we do, we open ourselves up to a lot of trouble.

Here are some details of study results:

Joseph House of Camden - John Klein

John Klein spoke to us about his journeyfrom a seminary student to executive Director of Joseph House of Camden (JHOC). And how Joseph House was started and how it has grown to what it is now.

He explained their mison: To work collaboratively with others to aid our homeless brothers and sisters by offering a continuum of services including emergency shelter and access to supportive housing and comprehensive social services.

Their overnight café has two goals: first, to provide a safe, warm, and hospitable drop-in center for the homeless; second, to connect the homeless with area social service providers who can offer more permanent solutions to homelessness including, but not limited to: veterans services, connection to benefits, counseling services, job and housing referrals, and prenatal care.

Principles of Practice:

1. Everyone can change their situation in life. We believe in people when they don't believe in themselves. We continue to believe until they also believe.

2. Listening, without judgment, is key. We accept individuals where they are and how they interpret their experiences in the world. It is not our job to advise people on how to live their lives.

3. Every guest has dignity and deserves respect. No matter how someone presents to us, they are treated like an invited guest to our "home".

4. We create a safe and beautiful space. Staff set the tone for the experience of each guest. Despite the way the rest of the world receives and reacts to our guests, they can feel safe and at ease in our space.

 5. We are masters of accommodation. We are flexible when we can be, working to meet individual needs when it does not interfere with others' safety. There are only five rules and everything else is negotiable.

There are Five Rules: 1. No Violence; 2. No Weapons; 3. No Alcohol; 4. No Drugs; 5. No Smoking in the building)

They provide up to 80 beds per night. in 2016 they moved 158 men and women into stable housing.

To learn more about Joseph House of Camden, Click Here

If you are so moved by this work, yu can join their Adopt-a-Cot program. $38 buys a cot for a person for a night.

Avoiding Falls - Dr. Charles Bachi

Dr. Bachi came with his "friend" the human spine to explain how it works and gives us balance.

He also gave us tips on Making Your Home Safer:

• Provide adequate lighting in your home. Use nightlight
• Have grab bars put in next to your toilet and in the shower.
• Remove scatter rugs and secure carpet edges. Place non-skid rugs in the bathroom.
• Use a cane or walker if recommended by your health care professional.
• Remove things that you can trip over from places where you walk.
• Keep items you use often in cabinets you can reach easily without using a step stool.A

And What You Can Do To Prevent Falls:

• Wear your glasses. See anophthalmologist once a year.
• Be careful of pets or young children scurrying under your feet. Remove clutter that you might trip over.
• Wear shoes with non-skid soles.
• Get out of bed slowly to avoid dizzyness.
• Carry a portable phone to avoid running to answer the phone.
• Pace yourself. Fatigue can affect your balance.
• Have your health care provider review your medications.
• See a physical therapist if you feel weak or unsteady.
• Begin a regular exercise program,
• Carry small loads. Heavy loads can throw off your balance.