NEW SHARON - A series geared toward empowering people to talk to their families and loved ones about end-of-life issues will begin Wednesday at 7 p.m. at the Congregational Church in New Sharon.

The five night series, held Wednesdays, Aug. 20 through Sept. 10, and Oct. 22, is a combined effort of Pastor Karen Garcia of the New Sharon United Methodist Church and the Rev. Marcia Charles of the New Sharon United Church of Christ.

"We hope this will touch a need in the community," Charles said Monday. "Many people pull away from those who are dying or their families because they don't know what to say. It's not only those in church but also in places where we work," she said.

The series will offer local speakers to help create a safe atmosphere for people to come in, listen, and ask questions, she said. There are resources out there to help make that time more bearable and the series will help people be informed to those resources when the time comes.

"A population who might not need it right now," she said, "but who can learn about the issue while they are not under the stress of grief or the end of a loved one's life."

Sessions planned include topics on hospices, funeral planning, bereavement and advance directives or legal plans regarding medical treatment such as resuscitation, she said.

"It's geared towards urging people to talk to their families while they are healthy and letting them know what they want to happen when they are sick," she said.

Attorney Ed David will present the legal issues involved while Jeremy McFarland from Adams/McFarland Funeral home will answer questions that arise when facing a death, she said. Sometimes the questions can be as simple as asking, "when Momma dies, when do I call the funeral home?" she said.

Laurie Winsor and Pat O'Brien from Androscoggin Home Health and Hospice will discuss issues surrounding a full range of care resources through hospice care, she added. Charles will present the topic of bereavement.

While many people stay clear of conversations on death and dying because they are not comfortable in those settings, it means the people who need us the most are left in a state of isolation, Charles said.

"It's better to say the wrong thing ... than to say nothing," she said speaking of her prior work with parents who had lost children to accidents or sickness but needed to hear the name of the person they had lost.

The five sessions will alternate between the two churches and be held from 7 to 8:30 p.m. The sessions are free and open to the public including people from the area not just those in New Sharon, she said. There is no registration and people don't have to attend all the sessions as they are not sequential but they can come as they wish.

Wednesday Charles will discuss end-of-life issues followed by a discussion of hospice care on Aug. 27, bereavement on Sept. 3, funeral planning on Sept. 10 and advance directives on Oct. 22, she said.

For more information, call Charles at 778-2517 or Garcia at 623-4705.