Volunteers Bring Smiles and More to Residents of Center for Hope Hospice

Volunteers from Unity Bank came to the Center for Hope Hospice on July 17 to learn how to make colorful flower arrangements for residents at Peggy’s House in Scotch Plains and Father Hudson House in Elizabeth. Teaching them was Tony Sweisford, who teaches flower arranging online and whose son, Travis Sweisford, is the Center chef. After hearing about the idea, he connected Stacy Kaplan, the volunteer coordinator, with his mother. Maliek Flynn, Rachel Buxbaum, Tracy Hawk and Dustin Coughlin (l. to r. in photo) transformed small mason jars into colorful bursts of cheer; the arrangements were hand-delivered to each resident at both Center facilities, along with bags of fresh-baked cookies from the Center kitchen.

On June 12, employees from L’Oreal USA came to plant flowers on the grounds of Peggy’s House; this is the fifth year in a row that L’Oreal volunteers enjoyed a project day at the residence. A video from that day’s project is posted on the Center’s website, cfhh.org.

The Center for Hope offers hospice and palliative care at Peggy’s House and Father Hudson House, as well as in patients’ homes, and other medical and long-term care settings. Organizations interested in partnering with the Center for volunteer opportunities can contact Stacy Kaplan at skaplan@cfhh.org or (908) 889-7780.

About Center for Hope Hospice & Palliative Care, Inc.
Center for Hope Hospice & Palliative Care (Center for Hope) is a non-profit, community-based organization that provides terminally ill patients with hospice care, and their families or loved ones with physical, emotional, and spiritual support during their time of need. The Center actively supports the individual’s right to live out the remainder of their life with dignity and in comfort, surrounded by the love of family and friends, and eased from the burdens of physical, emotional, spiritual, financial or social distress.​ Center for Hope welcomes all terminally ill patients, their families and loved ones without concern for race, ethnicity, religious affiliation or ability to pay. It also offers pain and symptom management for chronically ill and seriously ill patients through its palliative care program. Center for Hope operates two facilities, Peggy’s House in Scotch Plains and Father Hudson House in Elizabeth, which provides nearly $3 million a year in charity care. For more information, visit cfhh.org.

(above) Maliek Flynn, Rachel Buxbaum, Tracy Hawk and Dustin Coughlin from Unity Bank

(above) Volunteers from L’Oreal spent a day planting flowers on the grounds of Peggy’s House in Scotch Plains.