MIDLAND For $15, guests were able to receive a full plate of charro beans, cornbread and all the fixings all while helping raise funds for Hospice of Midland.
On Friday, Hospice of Midland held its inaugural Beans and Cornbread luncheon fundraiser. The event took place at Rays of Hope in Midland.
The event helps Hospice of Midland raise money to provide free hospice care to the unfunded and underfunded in the Permian Basin.
“It helps with bereavement services. It helps with our award winning children’s program Rays of Hope,” Director of Development for Hospice of Midland Byron Kelso said. “It’s a fun event and we hope to make it an annual event.”
Kelso said the idea for the beans and cornbread fundraiser came from Hospice of Lubbock, which has done a similar fundraiser for 31 years.
“It’s been successful and they’ve made it a community event,” Kelso said of Hospice of Lubbock’s fundraiser. “We’re trying to make this a community event.”
This year, Hospice of Midland is celebrating 41 years of service.
“This started with two volunteers in a church across the road and we have grown and our services have grown ever since,” Kelso said. “It’s been wonderful.”
Going into Friday, Kelso wasn’t sure how much they would raise from the fundraiser.
“Since it was the first one, we’re just going to wait and see,” Kelso said. “We did have the goal a little low, but we’re at 40 percent of that goal.”
President of the Hospice Board Marion Bryant talked about the volunteers that have helped out the organization.
“This is my third time on the board,” Bryant said. “The volunteers go back years and years because they love it so much. There were volunteers when I was on the board before that had been here for about four years. This started as a volunteer organization.”
Bryant wants people to know that hospice isn’t just for those who are dying but their families, as well.
“We work with all members of the family,” Bryant said. “We help that family when they’re going through a tough time.”
Hospice of Midland is the region’s first and only faith-based, nonprofit hospice care available to both adults and children.
“No one gets a bill,” Bryant said. “Either their Medicare, Medicaid or health insurance will cover it. If it’s underfunded or unfunded, we have funds available that will help cover that. We have the counseling services. We have Rays of Hope that is doing an amazing job with our children during times of any kind of loss. But I just want people to understand that the living who are taking care of those who are in their final days need hospice as much as that patient does. We’ve expanded all kinds of services. … Hospice is something that people need to understand is for everyone. From the child to the elderly, whether they’re in the hospital or service them at home.”
