Students add to Memorial Walk at Halifax Hospice

Ormond Beach Observer
Neighbors

The Ormond Beach Care Center of Halifax Health Hospice has an addition to its Memorial Walkway, thanks to a group of students from Father Lopez High School.

The walkway at the Care Center, 235 Booth Road, is landscaped with seating areas for patients and families, providing a peaceful and attractive outdoor setting. The students raised money to create an area complete with pavers, small wishing well, bench and a bird feeder hanging from a nearby tree. The students sanded and stained the bench May 18 to complete the project.

“It’s a great organization,” said student Gabriella Peburn, of Ormond Beach. “They help those near the end of life.”

The students are members of the Chick-Fil-A Leadership Academy at the school, a service-based organization. At the end of the year, they wanted to do a project that would impact the community and chose hospice. After visiting, they decided to add to the Memorial Walkway.

“The grounds are beautiful,” Peburn said.

Eric Whitwam, operations manager for Halifax Hospice, said the walkway is a place where patients and families can reflect and find their center when going through a rough time. Sometimes, hospice personnel take patients outside in their beds, when they are near the end of life and want to feel the sun or the breeze or hear a bird sing.

The Chick-Fil-A Leadership Academy is made up of underclassmen, with the idea they will develop leadership skills. But Peburn said the sophomores and juniors in the group showed a lot of leadership already in doing something meaningful for the community.

The group had fundraisers so they could purchase the paving stones and wishing well. The bench and bird feeder were donated and the group sanded and stained the bench at the walkway to compete the project.

A plaque on the bench will list donors.