- 10- Pull-out beds for family members staying with their loved ones ($7,500)
- Furniture and electronic games for the children's lounge ($2,500)
- Games and toys and kids furniture for the 2 children's play alcoves ($1,000)
- Blankets and bedding for the 10 patient suites ($3,000)
- Bedside tables and misc. furniture for the 10 patient suites ($2,000)
- Furniture and bedding for the 2 family suites ($4,000)
About Holmberg House
In 2011 Abbotsford Hospice Society (AHS) celebrated 25 years of helping people who are dying and providing free support services to families.
From birth to death life consists of a collection of moments. Some of these moments bring us great joy, others deep sorrow. Some pass so quickly we hardly notice them, while others seem to stretch on forever. Most of us can think back to a moment where everything transitioned and life changed: When we first learned to ride a bike; graduation, a marriage proposal; a car accident; the last time we saw someone we loved. These moments are filled with a myriad of emotions; hope, anxiety, fear, grief, and peace to name just a few.
Abbotsford is the only community in the lower mainland that doesn’t have a residential hospice. Currently, loved ones of dying people must travel to other cities to spend their precious final days and moments together. People often die in the clinical setting of a hospital rather than the warm, natural setting of a hospice building. That’s why the Abbotsford Hospice Society is building Holmberg House, a world-class end-of-life care facility for adults as young as 19 and their grieving families.
Holmberg House will be so much more than a building. It will be a refuge for the dying and grieving, a place where significant moments and lifelong memories will be shared. While nothing can erase the pain that comes with loss, Holmberg House will give dying people and their loved ones the space to live through these moments with comfort, dignity, and quality of care.
How would you like to remember the final moments with your loved one? In a hospital bed? A community other than your own? Or in the warmth and comfort of a residential hospice room, situated in your own community, bathed in natural light from the large windows, with a family suite on the floor below. Wouldn’t these create the moments you would like to see become memories that last forever?
An investment in Holmberg House is an investment in these moments. What is the return on this investment? More than changed lives, this will mean a changed community. I envision Abbotsford – and our entire region – as a place where people thrive in every stage of life. Where grief leads to healing , and loved ones who have died before us are honoured by acts of love, great or small. A place where the fear that accomponies a terminal diagnosis can be met with the assurance that final days – though still frightening – will be meaningful.
I invite you to take a moment to consider how you can invest in the Abbotsford Hospice Society’s Holmberg House, through a financial gift online, by contacting me directly, or by considering volunteer opportunities. Remember the most significant moments are the ones we share with others.
Sincerely,
Bev Brown
Executive Director
Our Community Benefits from AHS frontline services
- Offers a complimentary service that is an essential part of our health care system.
- Promotes strong partnerships with the local health care providers.
- Reduces emotional suffering and the risk of harmful behaviours.
- Connects individuals who are dying or grieving alone.
- Creates a larger support network by connecting families, children and caregivers with others who are facing end of life and its challenges.
- Teaches skills and provides educational opportunities in hospice care and the death and dying process.