AVAC hosts Celebration of Life event for Hospice of the Valley

By Kymberli W. Brady

Staff Writer

After the events of Sept. 11, 2001, Almaden Valley Athletic Club (AVAC) chose to host a fundraiser to benefit the Twin Tower Orphan Fund, raising more than $25,000 for children who lost one or both parents in the tragedy. That started a tradition that they remain committed to today. This year's theme was “A Celebration of Life” in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness month, with proceeds to benefit Hospice of the Valley. “It's been our commitment to the community to continue to do something each year,” explains club owner Joe Shank. "We have a lot of members and staff who have had breast cancer and employees who have been touched by hospice. We were so impressed with all the things Hospice of the Valley does that we wanted to give the proceeds to them. It is a local nonprofit that all of us at some point in time are going to benefit from.”

For the entire month of October, AVAC will donate one half of all new enrollment fees to Hospice of the Valley. Additionally they have already offered various activities, including a silent auction, “Hospice Hearts” purchased in honor of loved ones, lectures, and held a health fair on Oct. 11. “This is the first time we've ever had a health fair as a fundraiser,” admits Shank. “This year we decided to go a step further and provide education too. We combined that with all the other things we've done in the past and my guess is we will come in somewhere around $17,500.”

The daylong health fair provided the community with the opportunity to learn about breast cancer awareness, services provided by Hospice of the Valley, and various other health-related opportunities.

Hospice of the Valley Executive Director Sally Adelus admits that most patients are either unaware of Hospice services or come to them too late in the terminal process to truly benefit from the program. The health fair provided them the opportunity to educate the community about hospice services, including care for all age levels. “The feeling here is one of hope and joyfulness,” she says. “That's a good feeling to have when you're talking about hospice and that's what we are all about.”

Hospice of the Valley has served nearly 20,000 patients and families since its inception in the late 70s. Forty percent of their operational expenses needed to provide critical programs are funded directly through community giving. “As a nonprofit agency that provides hospice home-based care to terminally ill adults and children, we continually strive to reach to the community with our many programs.” says Adelus. “In addition, this will help fund our adult and children's bereavement program, where we follow a loved one for 13 months after the death of a patient. It will also enable us to continue to serve our patients who have no ability to pay for hospice care. It's absolutely critical to have an organization like AVAC support us. They enable us to continue to fulfill our mission to provide high quality compassionate hospice care and grief support –and ultimately touch the lives of many.”

One of the pre-event highlights took place at the club on Oct. 8, where Alice Hoglan, mother of flight 93 passenger, Mark Bingham, spoke on the subject of patriotism and how the tragedy of Sept. 11 has changed her life. “She had us close to tears but not in a somber way,” says Senior Wellness Director Mary Ann Smith. “She was very uplifting and is a soft-spoken woman of conviction.”

A former flight attendant for United Airlines, Hoglan is renowned for her active role in the fight against relaxed airline security measures and her inspiring lectures on what it was like that fateful day when she lost her son. She then shared various aspects of his life, admitting that even though he was not a scholar, he was “a fun, exhilarating marketing professional, respected and loved by many friends.” Although not allowed to reveal the contents of the cockpit voice recorder aboard Flight 93, Hoglan assured the audience that “there were heroes on that flight. I heard it,” she said. “It was 30 minutes long. They were ordinary men and women. Many were at the prime of their lives. Please, let's not ever forget them.”

According to Hospice's community relations liaison, Jeanne Wun, $15,000 has already been raised, with two weeks left to go. “This is tremendous,” she says. “It's funds that we would not have had this fiscal year to further our services with children's bereavement and care for our patients, families and loved ones. We are so honored that AVAC has chosen us as its beneficiary.”

“At AVAC, we do a lot in the community,” says Shank. “But this is something much bigger. It's my hope that next year, we'll do another event. So many of our members have heart disease and I happen to be one of them. So I'm hoping we'll do something around that, with the recipient being the American Heart Association –or possibly multiple recipients.”

Contributions are still being accepted at AVAC throughout the month of October. For more information on buying a “Hospice Heart” in memory of or in honor of a loved one, call (408) 267-3700. For more information on Hospice of the Valley, visit www.hospicevalley.org or call (408) 947-1233.