(L-R) Hospice Quinte Board President, Bill MacKay; Heart & Home Building Campaign Co-Chair, Ross McDougall; Hospice Quinte Executive Director, Jennifer May-Anderson; Bay of Quinte MPP, Todd Smith; Brad Williams, son of the late John Williams, Heart & Home Building Campaign Co-Chair
The grand opening of Hospice Quinte’s new Stan Klemencic Care Centre was celebrated September 29, 2021 with an official ribbon cutting ceremony and tour of the facility by local dignitaries, community partners, key stakeholders and donors.
In May 2019, Hospice Quinte launched its Heart & Home Building Campaign in an effort to raise $9.5M to support the development of a world-class hospice residence. To date, Hospice Quinte has raised 93.3% of that goal, with a little over $630K remaining to cross the finish line.
“It’s been an extraordinarily rewarding journey,” says President of Hospice Quinte’s Board of Directors, Bill MacKay. “We knew when we took on the challenge of raising the substantial revenue required to build a state-of-the-art hospice palliative care centre that it wasn’t going to be easy, and that it would require immense dedication by our hardworking staff and volunteers, coupled with remarkable contributions by governments, local businesses, philanthropic foundations and individuals, to succeed.”
“The caring, compassionate and breathtakingly generous support we’ve received across the board has brought us to this moment, and so, on behalf of Hospice Quinte and its Board of Directors, I take great pleasure in announcing that the new Stan Klemencic Care Centre will open its doors to those in need throughout Quinte and beyond starting October 25th.”
“There are so many people, companies, governments and organizations to thank that I hardly know where to begin,” says Hospice Quinte Executive Director, Jennifer May-Anderson. “To members of our Capital Campaign Cabinet lead by Co-Chairs Ross McDougall and the late John Williams, to our incredibly thoughtful donors, passionate volunteers, steadfast and supportive stakeholders, and our extremely dedicated staff and Board members, I share heartfelt thanks for making Hospice Quinte’s dream of a world-class hospice palliative care facility in Quinte become a reality.”
Hospice Quinte will continue to accept donations to its Heart & Home Building Campaign until December 31st, 2021, or until they reach the desired goal of $9.5M. In the meantime, the organization is pleased to announce that its building project came in approximately $300K below budget which has enabled them to relocate existing operations to the new location at 1244 Old Highway 2 in Bayside and hire 15 new staff to serve residents in the hospice care wing at the centre.
Additional donations to the Heart & Home Building Campaign will be directed to a growth and permanence fund, established under the capital campaign, to promote resilience of the organization in the years to come while donor pledges are fulfilled over the next 7 years.