Hospice capital fundraising campaign sees major boost

Local fundraisers on the agenda for fall, winter

Financial support continues to pour in for the Lionel Helland Hospice in Grand Falls-Windsor.

The organization establishing Newfoundland and Labrador's first community-based hospice announced recently that it has received a $500,000 investment from The Northpine Foundation to ensure that compassionate end-of-life care is accessible to everyone who needs it through the facility.

Ranked among Canada's top private philanthropic organizations, The Northpine Foundation is a start-up philanthropic organization with big dreams.

“Our vision is to propel and expand human-centred innovation in Canada. Our focus is to support people that encounter economic and social limitations, as well as a healthy planet,” said Aatif Baskanderi, CEO of Northpine Foundation. “We achieve this initiative by designing, funding and partnering on initiatives that improve community flourishing. We combine best practices to invest in bold, new and untried approaches.”

“The Northpine Foundation's core value of kindness is exhibited through acting as a professional, innovative, reflective, aggressive and impactful force of good. We aim to enable Canada's most marginalized populations to thrive. We value voice. To be able to facilitate this investment in the town in which my wife and I were born is an absolute honour,” said Mark Lane, Northpine's impact manager for rural Newfoundland and Labrador.

Shelley Woolfrey, who leads the public fundraising campaign for Lionel Kelland Hospice, said that the Northpine Foundation recognizes the reality of rural Newfoundland and Labrador communities in that many people do not have anyone at home to provide care they need and many just don't have the resources to deliver end-of-life care at home.

The Northpine Foundation is funded by Cathy and John Phillips through Klister Credit Corp.

“The Northpine Foundation's investment will have a huge impact on all the families whose loved ones will spend their last days in a peaceful and homelike environment,” Woolfrey said.

“This really fits their mission statement with improvements to rural and underserviced populations,” she added, noting that Central Newfoundland services 176 communities alone.

Traditionally, donations of this magnitude come with naming rights, but that aspect will have to wait.

“We have proposed a space to them because at certain levels you get the opportunity to name, but we didn't even have anything at this level of donation that really fits so their donation is strictly to add to the capital campaign,” Woolfrey said.

Lionel Kelland Hospice will be the first of its kind for Newfoundland and Labrador. The former Presentation Centre in Grand Falls-Windsor is being re-built to become a modern, fully-equipped, 2,430 square metre residence designed to meet the care needs of palliative patients and to support their families. Targeting a completion date of late spring 2023, the building features 10 private resident suites and spaces that enable families to be together and supported as they journey with their loved ones during the last days and moments of life.

Woolfrey also note that this sizable donation brings the capital fundraising to more than 70 per cent of the initial goal.

In addition to some of the large donations from business and organizations such as Northpine, there has been a great deal of money raised through third party fundraisers.

“That's really the stage we're going into,” said Woolfrey. “We've had everything from lemonade stands to dances to all of those kinds of things because people really want to get behind this. They really see it as a cause they want to influence.”

“The Hike for Hospice we had recently was very successful,” she noted. “Our radiothon will be held in October and VOCM Cares Foundation has been a big supporter as well.”

She added that plans also call for another Christmas fundraising campaign.

“Really, at this stage, we're engaging a lot of stakeholders locally,” she continued. “We have families and benevolent families that we're engaged with and will certainly have more to announce in the coming weeks.”