Walker foundation gifts $5M to Circle of Life Hospice
A $5 million gift from the Willard and Pat Walker Charitable Foundation means Circle of Life Hospice is well on its way to serving more families in need of end-of-life care, according to Catherine Grubbs, CEO of Circle of Life.
Announced to supporters at the Art of Hospice Gala on Oct. 6 and to the media Wednesday, the donation was the first in a campaign to raise $12.5 million for the Joey Feek Center for In-Home Care in Lowell.
Circle of Life also announced at the gala a challenge grant of $2 million from the Mabee Foundation.
“The Mabee Foundation challenge grant requires us to reach our total goal to receive the $2 million,” Grubbs said. “We have made great progress and are now just $1.6 million away.”
Country music fans will remember Joey Feek, the inspiration for the new facility’s name, who died March 4, 2016, after a diagnosis of cervical cancer.
Rory Feek, Joey’s husband, has been a friend to both the Walker Foundation and Circle of Life, said Mandy Macke, the foundation’s executive director.
“We are truly proud to honor Joey’s memory through this center,” she said.
“Since 2019, Rory has shared his story with us at our annual Art of Hospice Gala as both an entertainer and guest,” Grubbs added.
Located at the corner of Goad Springs Road and Metro Place, facing the Razorback Greenway, the 28,000-squarefoot Joey Feek Center for InHome Care will be “the heart of our operations and the home base for our in-home care team — physicians, nurses, certified nursing assistants, social workers, chaplains and volunteers,” Grubbs said. “It will also include warehouse space for medical equipment for our in-home patients.”
Grubbs said 93% of Circle of Life’s patients “prefer to be at home” and the need is constantly increasing.
“Our average growth rate over the past 10 years has been 9.6% annually,” she said. “In 2013 our average daily patient census was 147, climbing to 327 in March 2023. Projecting the same annual growth of 9.6%, we will reach a patient census of 1,291 by 2038 — 15 years.”
The Walker Foundation gift was the first in the “Expanding the Circle” campaign.
“They have been longtime supporters of the Circle of Life,” Grubbs said. “The love that Pat Walker had for Circle of Life has had a profound impact on numerous patients and families in Northwest Arkansas.”
Circle of Life is the largest nonprofit hospice provider in Northwest Arkansas, serving Benton, Carroll, Madison and Washington counties. It currently operates two inpatient hospice homes at 901 Jones Road in Springdale and 1201 N.E. Legacy Parkway in Bentonville. It offers free bereavement support groups, grief classes and workplace and school grief services at those locations.