Each year the winter gardens of the Hospicare Center glow with shimmering lights. The lights represent loved ones and reflect a shared sense of hope as we enter the winter months. In addition to the glow from the gardens, loved ones' names are placed in a special remembrance display indoors.

 

We invite you to help us Light the Landscape this year in memory or in honor of your loved ones, and hope that you will make a gift in honor of this occasion. Contributions are much appreciated but not required.

 

Please join us on Tuesday, December 6, at the Nina K. Miller Hospicare Center at 172 East King Road in Ithaca to celebrate and reflect during this season of light. Refreshments will be served at 5:30 p.m. and the program will begin at 6:00 p.m.

 

Although the event is free and open to the public, we do request that attendees register in advance. Please either download the registration form and drop it off at the Hospicare Center, or call us at 607-272-0212. Business hours are 8:30-4:30, Monday through Friday.

 

We hope you can join us!

 

In last month's edition of this e-newsletter, we reported that an essay by Women Swimmin' co-founder Joan Jacobs Brumberg was the Northeast regional winner of AARP's Win & Do Good Contest and Sweepstakes.

As her prize, AARP will donate $5,000 on Joan's behalf to Hospicare. Joan's essay was also in the running for the Grand Prize, an additional $10,000. Public voting took place through November 18th.

Although we did not win the Grand Prize, all of us at Hospicare are immensely thankful to Joan, and grateful to all our friends and supporters. We also extend our gratitude to AARP for this generous donation, which will help support Hospicare's services in the community.

Hospicare would like to extend a warm thank-you to the women of Phi Sigma Sigma, a sorority at Cornell University, for visiting this October and helping out around the grounds and residence.

Events like this are part of Hospicare's Intergenerational Nature Program, which invites community members of varying ages to participate in Hospicare's gardens and natural surroundings, and brings them together with hospice residents, families, and caretaking staff.

 

Looking for a special gift and want to support hospice at the same time?  Consider our CD -- "Beauty Crowds Me: An Homage to Beauty" -- a mix of covers and original material, featuring local artists including Jayne Demakos, coordinator of our music program.

This CD is given for free to hospice patients, and is otherwise available for $18. It makes a lovely holiday gift, and all proceeds benefit Hospicare.

See our Music Program page for details, including audio samples and a list of local establishments that sell "Beauty Crowds Me."

We would like to convey a heartfelt thanks to 15 STEPS on the Ithaca Commons for donating to Hospicare 10% of sales from Friday, November 25th through Sunday, November 27th!

Shoppers who visited 15 STEPS on those days had an opportunity to tell us what they're thankful for this holiday season, and to enter a drawing to win a $25 gift certificate for 15 STEPS. The names of ten lucky winners were drawn on Monday, November 28th.

15 STEPS customers were thankful for many things, including:

December dates include:

• Mindfulness Practice - Wednesdays 7:30-9:00 PM
• Registration deadline for "You Are My Sunshine: Remembering a Deceased Loved One" (Good Grief Program for children 5-12 and their families) - December 2; 4:30 PM
• Light the Landscape - December 6; 5:30-7:00 PM   
• Evening Bereavement Support Group - December 7 & 21; 5:30-7:00 PM
• Women Singin' - December 13; 5:30-7:00 PM  
• Continuing Bonds Support Group - December 13; 5:30-7:00 PM
• Tuesday Lunch Group - December 13; 12:00 PM
• Wednesday Breakfast Group - December 28; 8:30 AM