A $1.4-million, 4,000 sq. ft. addition to the Marjorie Willoughby Snowden Memorial Hospice Home in Kamloops was unveiled today.
The expansion doesn’t add any new beds, but it does add space for therapy, counselling, and education.
Executive Director Wendy Marlow says the Cooper family helped build the addition, through the family foundation.
“The strategic plan was always to investigate and to build a building,” she said. “My next job would have been putting some fundraising together so we could then move forward to build.”
“What changed is timing, and so now our community gets to take advantage of this beautiful building and the support and education two to three years sooner.”
The Cooper Family Foundation helped oversee both the funding and the construction of the project.
The foundation raised money for the project by building and auctioned a house in Aberdeen, donating the proceeds to the hospice.
“The expansion includes things that were not available to the hospice before so there’s a doctors room in there, there’s a massage room,” said Todd Cooper, President of Cooper Companies.
Marlow adds there are many programs planned in their new space.
“We’ll have more counselling programs, we’re starting a men’s group, a women’s group,” she noted.
“We will have more room to do more programs to support the families that are here with their loved ones, but we’re also able to reach people sooner in the community.”
In a move that caught many by surprise, the expansion was named in honour of the Cooper Family.
“It’ll be the Cooper Community Resource Centre,” Marlow said. “And then we have the Marjorie Willoughby Snowden Memorial Hospice Home.”
“It’s very fitting to honour the family for the amazing gift and the legacy they’ve left us.”
Added Todd Cooper, “it definitely caught me by surprise. I wasn’t expecting our name to be associated with the expansion itself, beyond the building of it,” he said.
“The fact that they’ve chosen to honour us with that name forever, is truly an amazing gift. It’s not something that we were expecting or looking for.”
Construction began last August, and the hospice association moved into the new space in early March.
Mayor @ken_kchristian leads the ribbon cutting on the $1.4 million, 4,000 sq. ft. expansion at the hospice.
The project doesn’t add any new beds, but adds community and other spaces that were needed.#Kamloops @RadioNLNews pic.twitter.com/CW3hf5Xz56
— Victor Mario Kaisar (@supermario_47) April 26, 2019
