Hometown Highlights: Harbor Hospice
Harbor Hospice is much more than a place.
They are devoted to giving each family a gift when they need it most… quality of life for their patients when they are facing life’s greatest challenge.
For over 40 years, Harbor Hospice has been serving the greater Muskegon area with so much compassion and love as they focus on patient’s emotional and physical well-being.
Most of us have a loved one who has had the thoughtful and heartfelt care of Hospice.
Dame Cicily Saunders, founder of the first modern hospice summed up the mission of hospice:
“You matter because of who you are. You matter to the last moment of your life, and we will do all we can, not only to help you die peacefully, but also to live until you die.”
Here are a few things you might not know about our local Harbor Hospice.
- Camp Courage, funded by Harbor Hospice, gives children that have lost a loved one, the opportunity to attend an amazing two-night camp! While at camp, the kids have all kinds of fun activities sprinkled in with master social workers that provide emotional support. For 21 years, this camp has been making a difference to up to 40 campers each summer.
- The Cooking for One program gives 12 participants the opportunity to work with Chef Char to learn to cook for one. Participants have two nights of cooking instruction and learn to better manage their lives after suffering the loss of a loved one.
- Hospice provides 13 months of bereavement to those individuals that have lost a loved one. They receive quarterly phone calls, opportunities for group meetings, and mailings. It is important to Hospice to provide support for caregivers and family managing the loss of a loved one.
All three of these programs are funded by local fundraising efforts. If you would like to support these programs what can you do?
Buy a ticket to one of their fundraising events, give a donation, like Harbor Hospice on Facebook, learn about being a corporate sponsor or sign up for their newsletter.
Make sure you go to www.harborhospicemi.org to learn more about their services. There are many myths around what Harbor Hospice does, when actually they provide many services that most of us are not aware of.
Offering temporary housing, emergency social services, Youth, Men’s and Women’s ministries, and the pathway to Hope, they strive to work with individuals and families to give them the tools to get through hardships and difficult times.
Kiwanis is a global organization of service clubs dedicated to changing the world one child and community at a time. Along the way, their members share fun, fellowship, and a passion to serve their local communities.
What had begun a few months before as casual conversation with others waiting in line for a food truck had developed into friendships. Deb (name changed to protect the client) and her new friends started meeting earlier to wait together. They shared vulnerabilities in their situations and connected over history, loss and hardship. While grieving the loss of her son, Deb found a safe place with friends. These friends walked alongside her during good times and hard times. They even came together over the holidays.
More than 56,000 Michiganders are estimated to be diagnosed with cancer per year. A single diagnosis impacts every aspect of someone’s life, financially and emotionally, effecting not just the patient but everyone around them.
“Too many children enter foster care with just the clothes on their backs,” she said. “Hope Pkgs provides new backpacks that include pjs, socks, underwear, toiletries, diapers and more to get them through their first night.”
“A misguided and sofa-surfing youth.”
Ms. Thompson was 
