Eden Gardens has hit the light switch to turn on its Brighten Our Spirits campaign for the holiday season.
The Rogers Foundation is again offering up to $15,000 in matching donations in hopes that community members will donate to the not-for-profit facility for 130 residents living with dementia. Until Dec. 31 the foundation will match financial gifts, so that every $1 donated by the community will generate $2 for Eden Gardens’ art, music and horticulture therapy programs.
“Residents have grieved the challenges they’ve lived through as they cope with this next stage of aging under the guidance of these therapists,” said Penny Babbings, Eden Gardens interim executive director, in a press release. “Some will simply sit back and watch with joy. Others still have transformed, sitting quietly and without expression, only to awaken in both body and soul as they start to engage with the programs.”
Eden Gardens is funded by Island Health for basic health-care needs, enhanced through donations from donors to enrich the quality of life for residents.
“Your support is crucial to their efforts to ensure the therapy programs can be enjoyed by all,” the release noted. “Please donate today, and help to build meaningful connections to art, horticulture and music, that will have a positive impact on the lives of the residents, creating moments of joy, moments of creativity, moments of spontaneity, moments of wonder, moments of release and of escape.”
Contributors can make donations by cheque payable to Eden Gardens, or cash. For more information or to make an online donation, visit www.edengardens.ca. Tax receipts will be provided for all donations of $25 or more.
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