An Entrepreneur Who Continues to Care Starts Club Aimed at Connecting Widows & Widowers

[January 27, 2009 – Richmond, VA] – As we celebrate the spiritual virtues of faith, hope and love, a very special Elderly Social Club called Eunice’s Circle of Widowed Friends (ECWF) has been formed.  The mission of the organization is to honor the past, find meaning in the future and celebrate every single life by simply giving widows and widowers an outlet whereby they can come together to socialize, have fun, go on trips or just be a support to one another.

The founder of the organization, Deborah Johnston, is an entrepreneur with a knack for building businesses that have a foundation of caring.  Ms. Johnston is an RN and has been CEO of a local Home Health Care company – Care Advantage, Inc. (www.careadvantageinc.com) – for over 20 years. The idea for ECF began percolating not long after she lost her Mother, Eunice Johnston, on December 27, 2006.  While she had lost a mother and life-long role model, Ms. Johnston recognized her pain was minimal compared to that of her father who had lost his soul mate, partner, and companion of 53 years.  The idea for ECWF began to crystallize as she researched outlets for her father to cope and deal with this loss – surprisingly the options were few and far between as she watched her father’s days go from living as a healthy retiree with dreams to travel and grow old with his wife by his side, to living, eating, and sleeping alone. 

Being the entrepreneur that she is, Ms. Johnston would not accept the status quo and refused to sit idly by and let her father remain a lonely man without any way to realize his hopes and dreams. Through talking with others and doing substantial research, Ms. Johnston found that other widows and widowers were in a similar situation and that her father was not alone in wanting to give the love in his heart and share with others who may be facing similar circumstances.  Therefore, in conjunction with her father’s church, St. Paul Lutheran Church in Mechanicsville (www.saintpaul-lcms.com) and Judith Poole, Social Worker at Retreat Hospital, she has launched ECWF.

ECWF is centered around and will grow because of one simple belief – that widows and widowers with so much left to give should be not ever be alone and should instead be celebrated and given an outlet to stay vibrant, healthy and passionate about life each and every day.  The club is designed to be a “safe haven” where dialogue about wants, needs and dreams can be shared openly with others in the same situation.   People who have lost their husband or wife – whether recently or many years ago – come together to enable each of them to live happier, healthier golden years. 

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