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Dedication is result of years of work
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
 Click here to enlarge this photo Staff photos by CAROL HARVAT
Marie Andrews, known as founder of Calvert Hospice, speaks at the 25th Anniversary Celebration of Calvert Hospice and the dedication of the Burnett-Calvert Hospice House on Saturday.
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Calvert Hospice Executive Director Lynn Bonde acknowledged the hospice staff, volunteers, politicians, board members and the Chesapeake Community Choir for their efforts and support of Calvert Hospice.
"These are the people that make hospice what it is in Calvert County," Bonde said.
The Calvert Hospice board is the spine of the organization that keeps it on the straight path, she said.
"We commemorate 25 years today, and the next 25 and the next 25. This house presents that future," Bonde said.
The land on which the house sits was donated by Barbara Burnett in 2004, but the "seed that planted the idea" of the house was Gladys Sowell Brown, Bonde said.
"In 2002 that seed had started to germinate," she said.
The ribbon cutting ceremony for the Burnett-Calvert Hospice House, a house that will be a home away from home for those living their final days, will be held in October. Originally the ceremony was to be held outside, but due to the rain, the crowd got a treat and a glimpse of the house when ceremonies were moved inside the framed and partitioned building.
President of the board of Calvert Hospice Jay Webster talked about the growth of Calvert Hospice which started as an idea to meet the needs of families with loved ones in the last stages of cancer. Hospice continued to evolve during the past 25 years, now with nine adult programs, a hospice retreat, the Camp Phoenix bereavement camp for children and the Burnett-Calvert Hospice House, Webster said. This year Calvert Hospice will train about 50 volunteers with 275 active volunteers already, he said.
Marie Andrews, who was the chair of a mental health needs study by the League of Women Voters in Calvert in 1984, saw the need for hospice care in Calvert County.
"We needed to be flexible, we didn't know what to expect. That's how it was when we started," Andrews said, after commenting on the ceremony needing to be flexible and being moved inside the framed Burnett-Calvert Hospice House due to the rain.
"This has been a journey of 25 years. It's been wonderful to see it grow," she said.
Andrews, known as the founder of Calvert Hospice, honored those who initiated Calvert Hospice and have died during the 25 years and were not able to see the dedication.
Andrews also acknowledged the volunteers who make hospice possible.
"Hospice is blessed to have the caring hearts of its volunteers, staff and its professionals," she said.
The Chesapeake Community Chorus has also taken Calvert Hospice under its wing and has fundraised for hospice and the building of the hospice house for many years. After the ceremony, the choir presented a check for $10,711 to Calvert Hospice, money that was raised through concerts around the county this past year.
Deacon John Verdon, who is also a board member of Calvert Hospice, gave a dedication prayer for the Burnett-Calvert Hospice House saying, "Lord, bless this house as a source of compassion and a place of peace."
