4 days ago
New Jersey Wind Phone offers grieving visitors a way to connect with deceased loved ones
A newly dedicated Wind Phone on the grounds of Cornerstone Church in Williamstown, New Jersey, offers a symbolic tether to communicate with deceased loved ones for grieving members of the community.
A dedication was held on Wednesday for hospice care provider Angelic Health's Wind Phone – a disconnected rotary phone and a park bench set in nature, where you can sit and share your feelings, process your grief, pick up the phone and make a symbolic call to a lost loved one.
The concept of the Wind Phone began in Japan in 2010 when creator Itaru Sasaki purchased an old phone booth and set it up in his garden as a way to grieve and communicate with his cousin, who had died of cancer. Since 2010, other Wind Phone projects have popped up in several countries, including hundreds in the United States.
The idea for the newly created Wind Phone was a word-of-mouth project, said Angelic Health's bereavement coordinator, Ken Jackson, who worked with several others, including curator of the New Jersey Wind Phone project, Amy Dawson, to see the project through.
"There are lots of strategies to cope with grief," Jackson explained, "some don't want to journal or vent. Sometimes the grief can get stored up." The physical and tactile act of picking up a phone is a great way to "feeling the connection again and processing the loss of your loved one."
While on the grounds of Cornerstone Church, the Wind Phone is open to the public. To find out more about the project or to create your own Wind Phone, visit
