Introducing Hospice of Peel

Welcome to Service – The Action Form of Love

This week, I’m blogging about Hospice of Peel in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada.

In researching Hospice of Peel, I’ve learned a lot of new things. I’ve only really had one encounter with a hospice organization, and that was when my mother passed away. (You can read about my experience in yesterday’s blog post found here: http://serviceafol.blogspot.com/2009/05/mama-and-hospice-experience.html)

The most amazing thing I learned is that they provide their services for free. They do this because charging a fee would prevent many people from being able to take advantage of the care they offer.

Something else I learned is that they offer opportunities to volunteer. What a cool way to get involved and help out such a needed organization!

Here are some of the ways you can help:

- Do you have a talent for or experience in office work? If you can commit 4 hours a week (during regular office hours), Hospice of Peel is looking for volunteers to help their staff with data entry, filing, photocopying and other duties around the office. If you know Microsoft programs like Word, Excel or Access, they say that would be very beneficial.

- Would you rather be more of an occasional volunteer? You can still help. Hospice of Peel has a variety of events throughout the year. Can you help? Check out their Special Events page here: http://www.hospiceofpeel.com/2/funddev.php

My blog readers come from all over, so I realize many of you aren’t able to physically help Hospice of Peel by showing up at the door and volunteering. However, whether you live in Mississauga or not, there’s still something you can do.

Every organization needs financial help, and Hospice of Peel is no exception. The current financial crisis has hit every industry, every charity. Although they do get some financial help from the United Way of Peel and The Ministry of Health (which together cover approximately 50% of costs) the hospice still needs help to cover the remaining costs.

So, here’s your challenge today:

Find a way to help Hospice of Peel help their community. To do so, you can accept one or all of the following challenges:

Donate. Can you donate even $5.00? If so, please follow this link: http://www.hospiceofpeel.com/2/donations.php

Volunteer: Do you live in Mississagua? Can you spare 4 hours a week? Can you help out with special events? If so, please call Susan Endicott at (905) 712-8119 Ext. 224. She’s available Monday through Friday, from 8:30 AM to 4:30 PM. To contact her outside of those hours, or if you’d like more information, please email her at sendicott@hospiceofpeel.com

Share this blog post. Perhaps one of the greatest things about blogs, social media, email and all things Internet is the ability to share information far and wide in a very short amount of time. By linking to this post, forwarding the link in an email, retweeting it or posting it on your Facebook or other page, you can help me help Mickey help Hospice of Peel continue the great work they’re already doing. You – yes, you – can make a difference. If you can’t donate or volunteer, I encourage you to share this post.

Thank you for always remembering that…

Service is The Action Form of Love

James