There were plenty of fast vehicles driving around the Foothills at the Rally4Hopsice event on the weekend. Sure, the 50 cars or so were quick moving, but it wasn’t the most moving event. The most moving moments were shown with the continued generosity of Okotoks and area at the 10 Years of Caring gala at Spruce Meadows on Aug. 11 after the rally. There were tears rolling down people’s cheeks when a touching video showed families telling of how the Foothills Country Hospice helped them and, most importantly, their loved ones in their final days. The approximately 200 people responded in kind — an estimated $400,000 was raised on Aug. 11 for the hospice. The generosity is nothing new. Although the hospice opened its door in January of 2008, the concern and fundraising started well before that — it started almost the second Dr. Eric Wasylenko and others had the vision for one of the first hospices in a rural setting in Canada. It’s a facility for which the community, volunteers and hospice staff can be proud. The staff doesn’t like words like “their final days” when writing of the hospice’s patients. The words “the living end of their journey” were recommended instead. It’s not being politically correct, just correct. The care and compassion shown by the staff enables families and patients to have as worthwhile an experience as possible while that journey comes to the end. The heartfelt journey of the past 10 years will continue at the hospice, but it won’t totally be the result of the caring staff and volunteers. It will continue due in larger part to the generosity of the Foothills community. A generosity that has rallied for the hospice with the precision of a Ferrari for more than a decade.
