Local hospices selling goodie bags to help families create unique keepsakes

Two local hospices are selling festive goodie bags with the proceeds going towards a program that creates lasting memories for families before their loved one passes.

Innisfree House in Kitchener and Lisaard House in Cambridge are palliative care centres for residents who often only have months to live. To take part in ‘Sweethearts for Hospice’, the public can purchase $20 goodie bags. The hospices said they worked with local artisans to fill the bags with treats, promotional offers and handmade candles.

“Charitable dollars have been declining so we had to think of something new and different,” said executive director Andrea Binkle.

Binkle said the funds raised will go towards the ‘Art from the Heart’ legacy program. It helps the families create unique keepsakes like fingerprint family trees or photographs.

“We record the heartbeat of the individual who is dying, and our music therapist puts it to music,” Binkle said. “This is their way to be remembered and know in their last breaths that the family will remember.”

Lauren Kells said she will never forget her father who was a resident at Innisfree House for three weeks. She got a plaster cast hand mould as her keepsake before he passed.

She returned to Innisfree to donate handmade candles that will be a part of the goodie bags.

“I feel honoured,” Kells said.

She said it’s been an emotional time for her but it’s the least she could do to help with the fundraiser.

“It might feel like a small gesture buying a goodie bag but it’s just giving family so many opportunities, for families like mine, that we are forever thankful for,” she said.

The public has until Feb. 10 to purchase a goodie bag to be delivered for Valentine’s Day. But the impact of gifting to grieving families is a priceless keepsake.