✨July News from The DC Death Collective✨

A community collaborative serving death workers and death-curious folks in the larger Washington, DC, Maryland, and Virginia region

Issue #16, July 2026

✨A welcome to new supporting members!✨

by Laura Lyster-Mensh, DCDC Steering Committee Member & Membership Maven

Our Supporting Membership is growing: we are now 49 death workers and volunteers of various kinds in the DC area, all contributing to our community through donations, volunteering, and showing up. Since our last newsletter, we have welcomed seven new members. We invite you to meet some of our membership on our public directory. Our community includes those who are caring for dying people, doing death education, pre-planning, legacy work, grief work, officiating, and burials. We are also proud to know a poet, a psychic, and several artists. Join us!

Welcome to DC Death Collective, Tara and Lily!

✨Tara Johnston is a death doula, grief ritualist, poet, and avid bird nerd based in Alexandria, VA. She has a special focus and love for her fellow LGBTQIA+ and autistic community, wanting to ensure that our unique griefs and ways of grieving are given support and space to take shape. Always down to talk all things death, especially funerary plans, Tara loves nothing more than to be weirded in.

✨Lily Buerkle is a licensed mortician and funeral director who, after helping pass Maryland’s Green Death Care Options Act in 2024, is launching Willow Green Funerals in 2026 to offer terramation, aquamation, natural burial, and traditional funeral services throughout the DMV. She is always happy to talk about death care and welcomes invitations to workshops, community conversations, and educational events.

✨In case you missed it!: A film screening in collaboration with the Human Prison Hospice Project✨

by Laura Lyster-Mensh

Thirty people made it through the baking heat to the mercifully cool chapel at Congressional Cemetery on July 16th for the first local screening of Prison Terminal: The Last Days of Private Jack Hall. We were all drawn to share the experience of this award-nominated short documentary. In this film we meet Jack Hall, a terminally ill man incarcerated at Iowa State Penitentiary who was cared for by peer caregivers also incarcerated there.

The DC Death Collective worked with Humane Prison Hospice Project and Historic Congressional Cemetery to organize this screening.

We were all able to applaud the film’s director, Edgar Barens, as he appeared on the screen from Detroit. Also coming in virtually for the Q&A was Humane Prison Hospice Project’s Communications Manager, Camila Ryder. DCDC member, Jackie Bolduan, facilitated a live conversation with questions from the audience.

They were excellent questions. It was an honor to be in the room, and to hear afterward how the film opened minds to issues around incarceration and deathcare. The audience included funeral professionals, death doulas, social workers, and members of the community interested in both hospice care and issues around incarceration.

The audience was moved emotionally and to action: many wanted to follow up to learn more about how to support hospice programs in prisons. Camila welcomed all of us to get involved: HPHP is seeking funding partners, experienced facilitators with hospice experience, and organizations to host virtual showings followed by a panel discussion. For more information, click here.

DCDC member, Jackie Bolduan, introduces the program for the evening

✨UPCOMING MEMBER EVENTS✨

The events below are hosted by DCDC supporting members. For our full, more broad-reaching community calendar, head on over to our website.

MULTIPLE DEATH CAFÉ OFFERINGS

💛 Death Café at All Souls Unitarian Church | Sunday, August 2nd, 2026; Sunday, September 6th, 2026| 12:10–1:30 PM 📍 1500 Harvard Street NW. Join DCDC steering committee member Leslie Tolf for a monthly cafe gathering. You can find more information here.

💛 Conversations Over Cake | Tuesday, August 25, 2026 | 6:00PM-7:00PM 📍 Arlington Public Library, 2100 Clarendon Boulevard, Arlington, VA. Join us for tea, cake, and talks of our mortal coil in a beautiful setting. More information can be found here.

💛Memento Mori Book Club| Sunday, July 26, 2026 | 6:00 PM - 7:00 PM| People’s Book, 7014-A Westmoreland Ave, Takoma Park | RSVP here

Interested in creating community around our shared mortality? Join us every other month for casual chats, guided by our readings, about death, dying, grief, and ultimately, life.

Gatherings are hosted by death doula Ali Brill.

💛Ethical Will / Legacy Letter Workshop| Monday, July 27th; Tuesday, August 25th 7:00-8:30 PM| Virtual | Register here

Do you want to write an ethical will? Join this virtual workshop to craft one! Through reflective questions, you will distill your memories, values, favorite rituals, and lessons learned. It's a gift for you and your loved ones, which you can do at any age. Discounts available for couples or pairs of friends who enroll together (and for participants who later enroll in full 1:1 end-of-life planning services). Hosted by DCDC member and death doula Kristen P. Patterson of Sacred Journey Death Doula.

💛 Demystify Death Nature Walk| Saturday, August 1st, 8:30-10:00 AM| Glencarlyn Park, 301 S. Harrison Street, Arlington, Va. | Sliding Scale | Register here

Do you find yourself struggling in your current season of life? Perhaps you feel alone, missing a spouse, key friend, or family member who died recently, or many years ago. You may be holding ambiguous grief due to unexpected job loss or the end of a marriage, or anticipatory grief for a loved one with dementia. Join a small group for an intimate walk in nature where we will connect the seasons of our lives with the seasons of nature. Hosted by DCDC member and death doula Kristen P. Patterson of Sacred Journey Death Doula.

💛 DC Death Collective Monthly Virtual Check-In | Sunday, August 2nd, 2026 |
5:00 PM - 5:30 PM | Google Meet link, no RSVP necessary

A gentle, monthly drop-in. Come say hi. Bring your thoughts, questions, or just your face. Whether you’re knee-deep in this work or quietly circling it, this is a space to connect, reflect, and be in community

💛 End of Life Planning 101 | Tuesday, August 4th, 2026 | 7:00 PM - 8:00 PM| Virtual | Register here

Are you curious about what end-of-life planning entails? Perhaps it's been on your to-do list for years, but you've never put your wishes on paper. Join a virtual intro workshop on the practical and emotional work of EOLP. Discounts available for couples, pairs of friends, and participants who enroll in full 1:1 end-of-life planning services. Hosted by DCDC member and death doula Kristen P. Patterson of Sacred Journey Death Doula.