The Embers That Light Our Way in April
- May 18
- 5 min read
Stories of Impact from Abundance
April 2026
In this Issue:
A Welcome from Abundance
Spring has returned in western North Carolina — the iris, lilac and peonies are making way for Old Man’s Beard and snowball bushes. Emberlight is in a period of reawakening as well, and like the spring buds that have been quietly gathering strength finally breaking through into the light, we are in a period of streamlining our systems, simplifying processes, and gaining clarity in all areas of our mission. This is exactly where we need to be as we launch into year four.
This April feels especially alive. This spring we are launching our Values Series, a year-long journey through Emberlight’s values that guide everything we do, beginning with Wholehearted Acceptance — perhaps the most fitting place to start for an organization rooted in the art of accompanying others through life's most tender passages.
This effort is led by our Belonging & Equity team - one of 20 volunteer led and run teams that make up the conscious living side of all we do. Conscious living embodies all our events, programming, and opportunities for a multi-generational community to gather together, grow together and serve. Your support helps us provide training and support to our volunteer teams.
Emberlight is hosting an evening filled with Grammy award winning artist Paul Winter, and internationally touring classical musicians you don’t want to miss. On April 25th, the Let The Earth Rise experience at Diana Wortham Theater is an evening that you don’t want to miss. This is an evening you won’t want to miss! Guided by our very own Dr. Aditi Sethi’s beautiful voice, elder wisdom, and a celebration of the community that you have helped us build – accompanied by the harmony and melodies of world-class, Grammy-winning musicians, you will be transported into the mystery that art touching soul creates!
Your generosity is the ember that keeps this work glowing — and in these pages, we hope you feel exactly how far that light reaches.
With gratitude,
Courtney Smith & Chelsea Trinka
The Emberlight Abundance Dynamic Duo
Why Does Emberlight Not Charge for Residential Care?
At Emberlight: Center for Conscious Living & Dying, we do not charge residents or their families for end-of-life care in our Sanctuary Suites. This is not an oversight. It is a conscious, values-based decision rooted in both law and love.
Our Model Structure
Emberlight is a member of the Omega Home Network — a national network of community-based homes that provide care for people in their final days or weeks of life. The Omega Home Network traces its roots to the early years of the AIDS crisis, when fear and misinformation left many men dying alone and without care. After the first reported AIDS cases in Los Angeles in 1980, there was a painful gap before dedicated clinics and systems of support were established — the first AIDS clinic not opening until late 1983.
During those early years, families, hospitals, and even funeral homes often turned people away because so little was understood about transmission. In response, small, community-based homes began forming to provide compassionate, nonjudgmental care for those who had nowhere else to go. That grassroots response to suffering became the foundation for what is now the Omega Home Network: neighbors caring for neighbors at the end of life.
Each state has different regulatory requirements for caring for those dying, including whether licensing or regulation is required and how many individuals can be cared for in a family-care home without being licensed as a facility. In North Carolina, state legislation allows for up to three individuals to be cared for in a private residence under state statutes that regulate adult care homes and hospice facilities. This structure permits small, non-medical, community-supported homes like ours to offer non-medicalized care.
Charging room and board or care fees would fundamentally alter that classification and move the model into a different regulatory category. Remaining donation-based allows us to operate within the legal framework designed for intimate, community-based death care rather than institutional healthcare.
Our Ethical Commitment
But the deeper reason is this:
We believe that how a person dies should not depend on their bank account.
From the beginning, Emberlight was created to offer equitable, community-based death care — especially for individuals who have limited financial resources or limited family support. We did not want to build a system where only those with wealth could access beauty, dignity, and loving presence at the end of life.
Instead, we chose a model rooted in shared responsibility where volunteers offer their time and skilled presence in reciprocity with their own values of service and community connection. Donors contribute financially to sustain the home and families of residents who die with us often pay-it-forward as a donation to the next family’s care. In short, the wider community carries the care collectively.
This is not charity. It is community centered deathcare.
A Different Way of Holding Death
By not charging residents we remove financial stress during an already tender time. We reduce barriers to access that are based on a family’s ability to pay for care. We center dignity rather than transaction, and we embody our belief that death care belongs to the community.
Our residents are not “clients,” or “patients.” They are members of our shared human family. They come here to die in a home, not a facility, and we become their surrogate extended family members. Our trained volunteers who show up not because they are paid, but because they are called to be here.
A Model of Mutual Care
This approach requires faith — and it requires generosity. It asks the community to step forward in support so that those nearing death can rest in a space of beauty and belonging.
We do not charge because we believe the end of life is sacred ground.
And sacred ground is created by this loving community.
Impact of Generosity
Entering the second quarter of our fourth year, Emberlight is financially healthy and right on track. Organizations like ours often find their footing around this milestone — and we are feeling it. We have already raised $113,138 in 2026, we carry a three-month operating cushion with a goal this year of six months, and we are partnering with a donor interested in establishing an endowment for our long-term stability. The graph below reflects the financial momentum your generosity made possible last year.
We started the year with a $277K budget deficit and we ended the year with money in the bank. Your support has allowed us to hire a new Curator of Experiential Learning, increase hours for our Residential Services Coordinator, and make improvements to our property including replacing our solar panels and purchasing a battery back up system to keep everything running during a power outage.
We have increased our outreach services to include visits to Buncombe, McDowell, Henderson and Haywood counties, and we have been awarded two grants already this year by foundations that see the impact of our work. Our volunteers continue to grow and the training we offer is building a community of death-positive individuals who believe that caring for our elders and having choice at the end of life is essential healthcare.
Blowing the Bellows on Your Embers...
Spring asks nothing of the hyacinth except to bloom. This month, we invite you to consider:
What might open in you if you simply allowed it?
And who in your life might be waiting to feel that same kind of welcome?
You are part of what makes this light possible. Blow on it — share this newsletter, invite a friend to Let The Earth Rise, or simply tell someone that a place like this exists. Embers spread.
P.S.
We love getting your feedback to this newsletter. We welcome anything that you love about this new series, what you are curious about, and how we might improve future issues to share the impact of your investment in Emberlight.
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