CORNWALL – The region’s hospice has received $20,000 – for facility upgrades and for a camp to help kids who have lost a family member.
The two, $10,000 donations came from the Commonwell Mutual Insurance Group.
Members of the Perth and Alexandria offices were in the city Monday for a formal presentation at Carefor Hospice Cornwall.
“We have personal connection to it (hospice),” Commonwell Manager Miki Paczek told Cornwall Newswatch. “A couple of the staff (their family member) just recently passed here. It was very easy to (make the donation) just seeing it’s something local in our community. People are generally travel far away, it’s nice to that if they need hospice care that they do it right here.”
The donation came “pretty quick” from Commonwell after an application for the donation was reviewed by the board, Paczek said.
The $10,000 will be used to replace mattresses at the 10-bed facility on Second Street West, where beds can cost $3,000 each and up.
“It goes a long way. We need to replace mattresses here at hospice so the request was mainly to help us replacing the mattresses,” said Sandy Collette, fundraising coordinator for Cornwall Hospice.
The other $10,000 will be used to help Camp Erin – a summer camp that helps children 6-17 years old deal with the death of a family member.
“Kids sometimes, it’s hard for them to express, especially in a family setting. If you have lost a parent, the other parent is grieving as well, so sometimes it’s not easy for the kid to express that grief,” Collette said.
The no-charge camp had 17 children last year and Collette said Camp Erin is hoping to have 37 kids this year.
The next fundraising event for Cornwall’s hospice is the Hike for Hospice on May 1.