Scattering CJ is a Facebook page started by Hallie Twomey [1] [2] on November 11, 2013, to commemorate her eldest son C.J. Twomey, who died by suicide in 2010. [3] [4] [5] [6] Through the Facebook page, Hallie asked if anyone would be willing to scatter a small amount of C.J.'s cremains in a location of their choosing. [7] [8] [9] [10] Since the founding of the page, C.J.'s ashes have been scattered in over one thousand locations worldwide, [11] [12] [13] including Machu Picchu, [14] the Great Barrier Reef, the Great Wall of China and Mount Kilimanjaro. [15]
In 2019, the Washington, DC–based media production company Spark Media released a documentary titled Scattering CJ about the Facebook page and the Twomey family. [16] The documentary chronicles the Twomey family as they grieve C.J.'s death, experiences and stories of members of the Scattering CJ Facebook page, [17] and the conversation about mental health and suicide prevention that has come from sharing C.J.'s story publicly. [18] [19]
The documentary Scattering CJ received critical recognition and won several awards, including an Accolade Global Film Competition Award of Excellence and an Impact DOCS Award of Excellence. [20]