Lutheran SeniorLife VNA releases butterflies at Big Butler Fairground
FRANKLIN TWP — Dozens of Butler County residents took an opportunity to send a message to their departed loved ones at the annual “Beyond Memories” butterfly release, at Big Butler Fairgrounds on Sunday, Sept. 14.
The event, organized by the Lutheran SeniorLife Visiting Nurses Association, serves as a memorial service for patients at the hospice who died in the past year.
“This is our memorial service, and we do this every year,” said Debbie Kaylor, the VNA’s director of marketing and communications. “We invite every one of our hospice families who have lost a loved one in the past year, and we also invite people who have come to the event in previous years.”
Those who signed up paid $25 each for the first butterfly, and $20 for each additional butterfly. The butterflies come from the Wish Upon a Butterfly farm in New Castle, Kaylor said
Some of those who released a butterfly Sunday had made this event a part of their yearly routine since the death of their loved one. This was true for Sue Bumbaco, who came to the butterfly release for the eighth consecutive year.
“I’m here on behalf of my husband, John,” Bumbaco said. “I have a very high opinion of the hospice program. They were wonderful to my family. We were able to keep my husband at home until he passed, and it was with their care that we were able to do that.”
Also releasing a butterfly on Sunday was 86-year-old Elaine Myers, who was a Lutheran SeniorLife VNA employee for 20 years until retiring.
“I had a mother in hospice,” Myers said. “They did an excellent job. They do excellent care, and I’m very proud to say that I was employed by the visiting nurses.”
The butterfly release was preceded by a 30-minute ceremony in the arts and crafts building at the Big Butler Fairgrounds, which featured performances of Amazing Grace by bagpipe musician Amanda McGregor, as well as a violin performance by Phil Braho.
Just prior to the butterfly release, VNA Hospice volunteer Lillian Griffith read aloud a list of 67 names of people for whom a butterfly was being released.
