Hospice and Herald

Like it or not, Christmas season is upon us. That means you’re about to be inundated with requests to spare some change for the Salvation Army kettles, donate gifts to toy drives, bake some cookies for a church raffle and all the rest of it. And they’re all good causes.

But there’s another way to spread Christmas cheer this year, and you can read about it on the front page of today’s edition.

The Herald has partnered with the Penticton and District Hospice Society to offer a special Christmas magazine that will be filled with season’s greetings from local residents and businesses.

Individual greetings start at $35 and partial proceeds go to the society, which operates Moog and Friends Hospice House here in Penticton.

Additionally, we’re running a contest to find art for the magazine cover. To enter, simply go to the Penticton Herald website and look in the contests section. The prize is $500 worth of arts supplies from Dragon’s Den. It’s impossible to rank worthy causes. Do the animals rescued by the SPCA deserve your support? Yes. How about the children served by the Toys for Tots to Teens campaign? Absolutely.

But if you’ve ever had a loved one stay in a hospice house – in Penticton or elsewhere – you know the value of the work they do.

They provide compassionate end-of-life care for patients who are not long for this world with the main emphasis on making them comfortable for the little time they have left.

Not only that, hospice houses also support their patients’ families by providing emotional support and as home-like of an atmosphere as possible in which to enjoy their loved one’s last days.

Dying isn’t pretty, but hospice houses bring as much dignity and comfort to the process as possible, and we’re lucky to have them.

When you’re deciding where to place your holiday cheer this year, please consider this special magazine.