with Donna Smith, JD
Compassion & Choices will host a week of events to highlight the passing of the Death with Dignity Act
DC Week of Compassion
Tuesday, February 18th – Smith Center Presentation and Discussion
Donna Smith, JD, will present her passionate work with Compassion and Choices DC to Smith Center participants. Donna’s talk will focus on options for end-of-life journey options. Food and drink will be provided and all are welcome!
Other Off-Site DC Week of Compassion Events:
Thursday, February 20th – Busboys and Poets forum
Sunday, February 23rd – Compassion Sunday- We are asking faith leaders to take a moment and honor all those who have passed within their congregation.
Compassion & Choices improves care, expands options and empowers everyone to chart their end-of-life journey. We envision a society that affirms life and accepts the inevitability of death, embraces expanded options for compassionate dying, and empowers everyone to choose end-of-life care that reflects their values, priorities, and beliefs. Their programs include: End-of-life Planning, Community Outreach, Legal and Political Advocacy, and Access Campaigns
About Donna Smith, JD
Donna Smith is an accomplished professional with over twenty years of experience in political consulting, legislative advocacy, public affairs, policy and program management.
Donna was the Chief of Policy and Community Programs for eight years at the Maryland Department of Aging. She led a team of program managers that implemented aging statewide programs for the aging and their caregivers. She was also detailed to work on the White House Conference on Aging in as a public relations specialist.
In 2014 she was a political consultant to the Donna Edwards Senatorial campaign where she focused on organizing women and seniors.
Donna has been employed by Compassion and Choices (C&C) for 4 years. She is the National African American Director and the Director of Political advocacy for DC and Maryland. In this capacity she led the campaign to pass end of Death with Dignity legislation in both the District of Columbia (the legislation passed in Feb. 2017) and Maryland, where she organized and engaged over 17,000 volunteers to help pass legislation and acted as a spokesperson on behalf of C&C.
A graduate of Tuskegee University and George Washington Law School, she has one son and resides in Laurel, Md.
This program is being offered virtually through Zoom. In order to participate and receive the Zoom link, you must register or by emailing carla@smithcenter.org
with Chef Cathryn Pethick
Nourishing Ourselves in Harmony with Summer, the Season of Pitta: An Aryuveda-inspired Cooking Class with Chef Cathryn Pethick
The fundamental principle of Ayurveda is that our habits, lifestyle routines and dietary choices should ebb and flow with the seasons, in harmony with the cycles of Nature. Our bright, hot and humid summer climate is the time to stay cool and hydrated with appropriate food and preparation choices, and support our energy in being relaxed and grounded. The tastes Ayurveda recommends for summer are those foods that are naturally sweet, bitter and astringent, using fresh, local produce, and just lightly seasoning to allow their wonderful natural flavors to shine through.
Join us in creating a summer menu that features all the farmers’ markets best offerings at the height of the season! We will talk about Ayurveda, provide a dosha quiz for you, and demo some beautiful food and cooking technique for you to put to good use at home!
Suggested Donation: $25
About Cathryn Pethick
Cathryn Pethick, AYS, teaches yoga and Ayurveda in the Washington, DC metro area, and is a long-time professional chef. She is an Ayurveda Yoga Specialist through the Himalayan Institute, teaching the self-care basics of the traditional Indian science of Ayurveda and Ayurvedic cooking to groups and private clients. Since 1997, she has taught both traditional and gentle hatha yoga classes for adults and children, therapeutic classes for seniors and special-needs students, and restorative yoga. It is her deepest desire to offer tools that bring balance and well-being into the lives of those she touches.
with Erin Price, LGSW, and Samantha Evans
This one day retreat is designed to empower cancer patients who have completed treatment and are in remission. The goal of the retreat is to build community and be a part of a supportive environment for healing.
During this retreat you will experience:
- A respite from daily life
- Delicious, whole foods, health-supportive lunch
- An education session about healthy eating and nutrition
- A creativity session to tap into greater self-understanding
- A community of other individuals who have shared experiences
There is a $45 registration fee associated with this Retreat. Please contact erin@smithcenter.org to pay after you have completed the form below.
About Erin Price
Erin serves as Smith Center’s Director of Young Adult and Psychosocial Support Programs. She is trained in Integrative Patient Navigation, a Project LEAD graduate, and holds a Masters in Social Work. A seven-year breast cancer survivor, Erin is passionate about providing support and community to other cancer survivors, especially young adults. She works with Smith Center’s DC Young Adult Cancer Community and is also actively involved in the cancer community through Young Survival Coalition, Critical Mass, the Georgetown Breast Cancer Advocates, National Breast Cancer Coalition, and the DC Cancer Action Partnership.
About Samantha Evans
Samantha Evans is getting her Masters in Social Work at the University of Maryland. She will be joining the Smith Center as a Social Work Intern until April 2020. Samantha is excited to be joining the team at the Smith Center for Healing and the Arts. When not studying for graduate school, Samantha spends her free time with her dog, reading, and with friends.
This class is now full. Please check back at a later date for a similar program.
with Chef Kara Garrett
Start out the new year on a healthy note! Learn tips to make weekly meal planning easier and together we will prepare simple make-ahead and easy-to-reheat meals for the week.
We will prepare 4 dishes together and you will take home individual portions of each to enjoy for your lunch or dinner. Please bring your preferred reusable storage containers.
Menu items will include:
- Zesty Veggie & Black Bean Enchiladas
- Vegan Homestyle Lasanga
- Meditteranean Grain Bowl with Baked Falafel
- Tuscan Vegetable Soup
When registering, please indicate any guest(s) that will be joining you, and if you have any food restrictions or allergies. All items will be vegan, gluten-free and soy-free.
This class is limited to 10 participants. Be sure to sign up early!
Suggested Donation: $25
About Chef Kara Garrett
Kara is a health-supportive chef based in Washington, DC. Following her breast cancer diagnosis in 2013, she embraced the challenge of finding a balance between her foodie lifestyle and eating well with cancer. She has adopted a flexible diet plan that focuses on plant-based, sustainable whole foods, but does not restrict indulgences of things she loves. She is passionate about working with others to encourage healthier food choices that energize the body and the soul.
Kara graduated in August 2017 from the Chef Training Program at Natural Gourmet Institute in NYC and spent one month as the sous chef at The Ananda Ashram Yoga Society of New York in Monroe, NY. She is currently enrolled in the Developing Healthy Communities: Nutrition, Behavior, and Physical Activity graduate program at Tufts University Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy.
with artist Leigh Davis
Join us for a conversation and discussion with artist Leigh Davis focusing on ELEs (end-of-life experiences). ELEs are unusual experiences that typically occur around the time of a death and are experienced by a person who is dying or who has lost a loved one. These experiences can be interpreted as premonitions, deathbed visions, golden light, changes in the temperature or atmosphere, terminal lucidity, or eerie coincidences. The talk invites the audience to participate and speculate about the boundaries between the physical world, the emotional world, and what may exist beyond.
About Leigh Davis
I create multimedia work that is both deeply personal and anthropologically rich, navigating the complex line between voyeurism and empathy. In recent years, projects have taken the form of shrines, altars, and collections of various objects and images that work together to form a cohesive and immersive installation. To house these works, I have been drawn to sites that present their own spirituality or sense of community, using this intrinsic human quality to complement the stories represented in the installations. My overall work is designed to foster connection between viewers and community members, encouraging conversation about the aspects of humanity that keep us apart and bring us together. Currently, I am working on a body of work about the modern rituals surrounding death and the remnants of the life left behind. Vigil, my recent site-based audio installation, stems from my membership with a community of women continuing the tradition of bedside singing to the dying. This project was created for the historic chapel at Green-Wood Cemetery 10/17. I teach courses at Parsons the New School for Design and work between Brooklyn NY and Washington DC.
