Stoneridge 'mini-golf' tournament benefitting hospice

For many residents in Bonner and Boundary counties, Bonner Community Hospice workers are the people they turn to when they or a loved one are facing the end of life.

Bonner Community Hospice has been working to ease the end of life transition since 1985. Over the years, hundreds of patients, family members and friends have found the support they need through Hospice care and programs.

The concept behind hospice is not new; it has been around since medieval times, when the word referred to a place of refuge or solace for pilgrims or others in need. In modern times, it still refers to a refuge, but a refuge from the fear, loneliness and grief associated with terminal illness and death.

Those who work and volunteers at Bonner Community Hospice utilize a team approach to provide full, comprehensive care for patients and their families. Physicians, nurses, social workers, chaplains, volunteers and others work together to ensure the optimum quality of life when curative measures are no longer considered helpful.

With an emphasis on pain management and palliative care, patients are made as comfortable as possible, while being treated with the care and dignity that they deserve. In Hospice, family members and caregivers have someone to turn to when they need questions answered or just need someone to talk to.

The people who make Hospice programs possible are some of the most courageous people you will ever get the chance to meet. They have experienced difficult and sometimes heart-breaking situations and do not shy away, but instead gather their strength to help the next person, the next family in need.

A couple of years ago, the community of Blanchard lost a loving couple with a passion for golf. Charlie and Gene Blanchard were a fun-loving couple who retired to the Stoneridge Golf Resort community. When Gene became ill, the Blanchards and their family relied on the care and personal touch of Bonner Community Hospice employees and volunteers.

For the third consecutive year, there will be a fundraising golf tournament in memory of the Blanchards that directly benefits other Hospice patients residing in Bonner and Boundary counties. The Stoneridge Golf and Timeshare Fundraiser Mini-Golf Tournament will be held at Stoneridge Resort on Saturday, Sept. 6. This promises to be a fun event with a round of mini-golf at the Stoneridge course, followed by dinner, prizes, karaoke, and dancing. Cost is $35 per person, and this includes green fees, putter and dinner event after the tournament.

To further their fundraising efforts, the Stoneridge Golf and Timeshare team has put together a raffle, with the grand prize being a four-night houseboat vacation on Shuswap Lake, British Columbia. To purchase tickets for $5 each, or five for $20, please call Kathryn at 265-1185.