About
The dream of Aluna Bridge started back in 2010, after our founder, Dasha, lost her father to suicide. Not long after his death, she began a personal spiritual journey that would eventually lead her to the "No One Dies Alone" (NODA) program at the hospital where she worked for many years. She began seeing firsthand many from our community experiencing homelessness come in for care for their terminal diagnosis. Later, these patients would be discharged and left to shoulder the burden of their crisis alone out on the streets.
In 2023, 181 individuals died on the streets of Nashville due to exposure and illness.
This became Dasha’s mission - Her calling. To create a bridge of awareness and love for dying women and children who are also part of our underserved community, uniting those in need with acts of kindness. That is the heart of Aluna Bridge. We offer compassionate non-medical end-of-life care and support in the safety of a real home.
Why the name ALUNA?
During Dasha’s spiritual journey, she came across the name "Aluna" from an indigenous Pre-Colombian tribe, known as the Kogi, that live in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta mountains in South America. Aluna is the name the Kogi give to the Divine Spirit, the creator of all. It is the life source, the essence of Spirit that connects all humans with the one Source. The Kogi, see Aluna as being the great sea of water that existed before creation. She is the great womb of creation and the place where all also returns. According to the Kogi, Aluna is also the great light of the Moon, lighting our path and marking our cycles of life, of death, of rebirth.
When researching the name further, she learned that in Africa, the name means "approach." In Hawaii, it means "to descend or loosen." In Portugal, it means "student." Globally, “Aluna” defines the experience of transition. When we embark or approach any kind of journey, be it spiritual, emotional or physical, we must approach it like students, allowing ourselves to loosen from what we think we know, and descend into the depths of unknowing. By surrendering to the will of the spirit of Source that courses through us, we are guided towards new beginnings- New life.
"Aluna contains everything that is past and everything that may become. Aluna is intelligence; it is the concentrated thought and memory that forms a bridge between the human spirit and the universe."
- The Elder Brothers: A Lost Southern People and Their Wisdom, - Alan Ereira
Aluna Bridge was created to hold space for those transitioning out of this world and into the next. A space where they are cared for, loved and supported during those final sacred moments between breaths. Like a lamp post rising out from the shadows, Aluna Bridge will be the light helping to support and guide individuals and families through the death and grief.
We believe the spiritual gifts of ALUNA are reciprocal. Those volunteering and supporting the organization also enter as students, with the understanding that those we care for are our greatest teachers.
