Canuck Place Children’s Hospice in Abbotsford has purchased new furniture for its library and family lounge, thanks to an $11,000 gift from the Envision Financial Community Endowment.
The gift is one of 33 grants the endowment has awarded this year to organizations delivering programs to vulnerable populations.
Canuck Place’s Dave Lede House is located on the Campus of Care on Marshall Road next to Abbotsford Regional Hospital.
The hospice supports more than 600 newborns, children and teens with life-threatening illnesses and the families who love them.
Seline Kutan, executive director of the First West Foundation, said the completion of the library and the family lounge is the culmination of four years of co-operation between the organizations, starting with the $150,000 capital contribution, as well as donations of $33,200 in grants from 2011 to 2015.
First West Foundation is the philanthropic arm of First West Credit Union of which Envision Financial is a regional division.
The quiet space at Canuck Place features a library filled with children’s books and resources, including grief and bereavement books, and a relaxing respite for employees in the form of a nursing lounge and staff room.
“With the support of the Envision Financial Community Endowment and the First West Foundation, children, families and staff at our Dave Lede House hospice have an inviting, warm and quiet space to go,” said Susan Poitras, co-ordinator of counselling and bereavement at Canuck Place.
“We really wanted to help nourish the well-being of both patients and employees at Canuck Place,” said Susan Byrom, senior manager of community investment at Envision Financial.
“Knowing the Envision Financial Community Endowment has furnished rooms our organization funded in 2012 closes the circle for us. We’re committed to contributing where we can to support the important work Canuck Place does for B.C.’s sickest kids and their families.”