Hospice Toronto - Tree of Life 2011

This holiday season, many families across Canada will be sharing this special time of the year with a close family member living with serious illness.

My brothers and I will forever be grateful to Hospice Toronto’s volunteers for helping us care for our mother in ways we were not able to. From assisting her personal support worker so that she could have a bath to keeping her company to make sure she was comfortable when we were unable to be present, our mom lived her final months with dignity and comfort.

With a good quality of life to keep her spirits high, our mom surpassed earlier predictions that she would not live to Christmas. We were able to enjoy the holiday with her for one last time; and said goodbye to her with peace as she gracefully passed away a few weeks later.

John, family member of a Hospice Toronto client

Through the support of our home hospice volunteers, caregivers are often provided with the help they need to remain strong and resilient. This in turn serves to help maintain their health, fortify their perseverance and bolster their emotional strength, thereby enabling caregivers to better care for their loved one.

By providing compassionate care and leadership in the volunteer-based, home hospice community, Hospice Toronto is committed to supporting people through all phases of their life-threatening illness, and their caregivers and loved ones, at no charge.

Please donate to Tree of Life. Last year, it cost approximately $1,900 to recruit, interview and train each new home hospice volunteer, and around $17 per hour for a volunteer to provide one hour of compassionate hospice care and support in someone’s home. Our volunteers would not have been able to support our clients in the ways that they do, and their caregivers and families without your generous support.

Donations are processed by CanadaHelps, which processes secure, online donations on behalf of Hospice Toronto. Within minutes of making a donation, you will receive an official electronic tax receipt. Select the fund designation “Tree of Life 2011”. Thank you very much for your donation!

For assistance or to donate by telephone, please call Bryan MacDiarmid at 416-364-1666, ext. 242. You can also donate by mailing a cheque to “Hospice Toronto, PO Box 324, Stn Commerce Court, Toronto, ON M5L 1G1

Thank you to Manulife Financial for their generous support of this year's Tree of Life.