Hospice House gets a makeover!

Many years ago, the founder of Sunshine Coast Hospice Society, Rosemary Hoare, left an enduring legacy by providing a planned gift to Hospice with the funds to rent a program and office space from the District of Sechelt, located just up a rocky path from Davis Bay Beach. Hospice gained this new home in 2011 and affectionately called it Hospice House. Ten years later, the centre has received a makeover thanks to the generosity of the community.

The charity was the recipient of a renovation valued at over $40,000 in gift-in-kind support, which included the donation of all materials and labour, appliances, and even the kitchen cabinets! The result is a beautiful program space to benefit clients through the provision of services including grief groups, a new palliative day program, education workshops, one-to-one client meeting space, and more.

“We would like to extend extra-special thanks to Paul Mears, our board vice-president, who initiated and tirelessly managed this project for us. We could not have done this without him,” said Tess Huntly, Hospice’s executive director.

More than 30 individual and business contributors were involved in the project.

“This was a true community effort, and we thank the individuals and businesses who have transformed this space to benefit end-of-life support services for residents on the Sunshine Coast,” said Huntly on behalf of the Hospice team.

Special thanks

We extend a special thanks to Paul Mears for initiating and managing the project, acquiring the donations and doing the bulk of the renovations.

Thank you to Paul’s Paintin’ Place, Eli Dill Painting, Matthew Kleiwer Painting, A Couple Painters, The Paintress: Alison Maxwell, Denis Fafard and Rainer Borkenhagen for the donation of paint and your painting services that breathed fresh life and colour into the space.

For the kitchen, we thank Lura Osborne-Smulders and Burt Smulders for the donation of the kitchen cupboards, microwave and hood fan, and refrigerator, Ellen Adelberg for the donation of the stove, and Nelsen Plumbing for donating and installing a new sink and tap, and installing the dishwasher, Any Day Roofing for installing range hood venting, and Luxe Kitchens for donating and installing new kitchen countertops. 

For our primary program space, we thank RONA Sechelt for the shiplap for the feature wall, Custom Carpet for the laminate flooring at cost, Charles Pitre Flooring, Mark Huson, and Rod Hamilton for their help installing the laminate floor, feature wall, new baseboards and casings; HWH Contracting for the electric baseboard heaters, and Wheeler Electric for rewiring the heaters, switches and plugs, Sechelt Glass for the transom window glass, Sunco Building Supplies for new doors at cost, and David George for help with light fixture installation, demolition and building furniture, and Stockwell Gravel for the help with our outdoor path. Also, a special shout-out to the Hospice staff for the many volunteer hours spent cleaning, organizing, painting and decorating!

For the furniture and decor, we thank IAMOTA for the board room table and chairs, Gigi Hoeller Art Gallery and Liz Christian for the donation of beautiful original artwork, Elana Robinson for the donation of furniture, and Sunshine Coast Healthcare Auxiliary for grant funds that were partially used to purchase decorative items to make the space warm and inviting.