The Comox Valley Hospice Society wants to educate its volunteers while honouring one of its employees.
It’s in the process of creating a fund to acknowledge the hard work of longtime member, Terri Odeneal.
Board president Paula Horky says Odeneal is retiring at the end of June, but the society wanted to thank her for her work in a very special way.
“Through her steadfast, tenacious loyalty and hard work, she was able to, along with several other people, work towards having the government of the day acknowledge that the valley needed some hospice beds,” explained Horky.
“Terri has always been a key component of a strong, well-supported group of volunteers and so when we realized that Terri was retiring we were trying to wrap our brains about how to acknowledge the impact she’s had on the organization.”
The goal is to launch the Terri Odeneal Education Fund, which would be dedicated solely to the education of volunteers, something Odeneal was very passionate about.
“Our program coordinator let me know that there are some really good sound online learning opportunities for volunteers,” Horky said. “What we’ve come up with is the idea that over the years some volunteers who may want to take advantage of the funds could apply to the board and we’ll have an approval process.”
“We thought online education if it is of good quality, would be a cheaper, more direct way of spending money.”
To learn more about the fund, or to donate visit the Comox Valley Hospice Society’s website.
