Kamloops Hospice Association recipient of $8,500 from BC Interior Community Foundation

Photo: Tereza Verenca

From left to right: Rob Lemire, president of the BC Interior Community Foundation; Hugh Fallis, board member with the foundation; Grant Legacy, board chair of the Kamloops Hospice Association; and Wendy Marlowe, executive director of the Kamloops Hospice Association.

The Kamloops Hospice Association has received a good chunk of change from the BC Interior Community Foundation.

A cheque for $8,503.97 was presented to the non-profit Thursday morning (July 23).

Executive director Wendy Marlowe calls the gift "phenomenal" and says it's definitely needed in a time like this. Hospice had to cancel its annual gala and shutter its thrift store for a few months, two initiatives that bring in a significant amount of its operating budget.

"It's been tough; there's no question," she says of the current financial situation. "Donations are down because of people's situation with work and things, but we've found some creative ways to keep things moving."

Those creative ways include a donation drive (drive-thru-style) and an online auction.

Marlowe says the pandemic has impacted the hospice's community programs; however, she says staff are reaching out virtually and by phone.

"The clinical service hasn't changed, except that we don't have some of our volunteers baking and we've had to shut down some of our common areas."

The BC Interior Community Foundation, which started in 1984 and was known as the Kamloops Foundation until 2015, holds endowed funds. As part of their regulations, they ensure 3.5 per cent interest; while the principle money stays with the foundation, each year, stakeholder charities get a cheque made up of the interest.

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