The Rose Garden Hospice is about $1.6 million away from reaching their fundraising goal after a donation from a Prince Albert family.
Chuck and Linda Miller presented the hospice with a $10,000 cheque on Friday morning.
The businessman ran Miller Contracting Ltd. from 1972 until selling his shares in 2006. Afterwards he ran Hubel Insulating which he sold to his son-in-law five years ago.
Chuck planned on donating earlier this year but suffered a dip in his investments when the pandemic hit.
“Thankfully they’ve come back fairly nicely now so I decided before year end to do my donation to Rose Garden Hospice because this is something that Prince Albert really needs,” Chuck said.
He also challenged other business owners and retired contractors to match or donate a bit to the hospice as “it’s something that we definitely need.”
“The Rose Garden Hospice is going to be a special place to go if you have someone that only has a few days or a week or less than a month to live. That’s such a great thing to have this. It’s something that we should have had many years ago.”
Chuck is also on the building committee and has been working with the Daschuk family for three or four years on the project.
The hospice is named after Rose Daschuk, who passed away after battling cancer over twelve years ago.
Her daughter, Marina Mitchell, says the hospice will give patients and families another option for end of life care.
“It gives people and families a peace of mind knowing that their loved one is given the best care possible for end of life,” she added.
In the last couple of months her family was in and out of hospital before her mom’s passing. Someone asked Mitchell’s dad if Rose passed away in a hospice. Her dad didn’t know what a hospice was and looked into it, coming to the realization that Saskatchewan doesn’t have any standalone hospices.
The group has now raised $2.4 million and are over halfway to their goal of $4 million.
Mitchel has seen both big and small donations go towards her family’s dream.
“I guess you could use the analogy there’s a light at the end of the tunnel and we know this dream will become a reality.”
The hospice will be a 10-bed facility with two family rooms, a kitchen and other spaces for families.
Construction is set to begin in the spring.
