PILOT MOUNTAIN — A new local support group for widows and widowers will get its start this week with an organizational meeting on Tuesday morning.

At 11 a.m. that day in the Mountain Valley Hospice Community Room on Key Street in Pilot Mountain, Neil Breed will organize the initial meeting of Pathways, a social support group for widows and widowers in Surry and Stokes counties with a free lunch and fellowship.

Breed said that he came up with the new name for the group because he felt that each person was on his or her own journey or pathway through widowhood and that the group needed to support people at several different stages of widowhood.

“Some people just want to come out once a month to be around others and enjoy fellowship,” said Breed. “And some people want to become world travelers with an active schedule of game nights, weekly dinner get togethers and planned trips for the group, and that is OK.”

Breed mentioned that as a community support group it has to be able to meet each person on his or her level or journey through widowhood by engaging all those involved in the group and then plan activities throughout the year that appeal to each person’s individual pathway or journey. “Although we hit a little bump in the road, I am confident that our new group will be even better than the first,” said Breed.

The group is, in essence, taking the place of the former Widowed Persons Organization of Surry & Stokes County, which has seen its membership decline over the past year.

Pathways is open to all widows and widowers in the area call 368-2233.