The Humanist Society and AHA Center for Education are excited to announce our upcoming on-site training for humanist celebrants in Orlando, Florida on August 10th! New, experienced, and prospective humanist celebrants are invited to hone your skills, learn best practices for planning and executing humanist ceremonies, and network with other celebrants in your area! You’ll leave our training with all the knowledge, confidence, and creative ideas you need to preside over all sorts of humanist ceremonies and ensure success in all of your celebrant work.
When:
Saturday, August 10, 2019
Where:
Unitarian Universalist Fellowship (UUUF)
11648 McCulloch Rd, Orlando, FL 32817
Time:
10:00 am to 4:00 pm (lunch provided)
Cost:
$85 per person
- Learn how to prepare unique & inspiring humanist ceremonies
- Find out how to care for individuals nearing the end of life & support their families during this time
- Discover what makes a humanist memorial service so different
- Gain understanding of how humanists celebrate life events & milestones
- Learn best-practices for working with clients to build ceremonies they will cherish
Schedule:
*Schedule may change to meet needs of participants
10:00 to 10:30 am: Welcome & Introductions
10:30 to 12:00 pm: Weddings
12:00 to 1:00 pm: Lunch (Provided) & Discussion
1:00 to 2:30 pm: End of Life Preparation & Memorials
2:30 to 3:00 pm: Invocations
3:00 to 3:30 pm: Baby Welcomings
3:30 to 4:00 pm: Coming of Age Celebrations
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**Participants will receive supporting materials to begin (or add to) their personal library of resources i.e. sample ceremonies, suggested readings, creative ideas.
Donna Forsythe grew up in a Quaker family. As an adult, she identified as an ‘atheist Quaker’, later realizing this was the foundation for Humanism. Forsythe worked as an inner-city educator for 30 years, when she took a sabbatical in 2014 to earn her Masters in Leadership and Administration. That year, Marriage Equality passed in her state of Pennsylvania. Within days of the lifting of the same-sex marriage ban, she officiated her first wedding, marrying two men in their 70s, which prompted her to go through the Humanist Society to become endorsed as a Humanist Celebrant.
This would prove to be a life-changing event, leading Forsythe to retire from education in 2018 to pursue her Humanist Celebrant business full-time. Since becoming a celebrant, she has officiated over 250 ceremonies and built a full-time celebrant business, Lehigh Valley Celebrants, which includes a group of four other Humanist Celebrants who work with her. Her background in theater and her previous work as a teacher, as well as a librarian/storyteller, has provided a unique skill-set. Her goal is to craft meaningful, couple-centered ceremonies and to create an atmosphere where everyone feels like they’re part of the celebration. Most recently, she has collaborated with her local LGBTQ center to provide Transgender Namings to those in her community.
Read her TheHumanist.com article, “Love Wins: LGBT Wedding Expo Embraces Marriage Equality”