The Party: To ring in the holiday season, Carol Grotnes Belk Hope Lodge held a special VIP reception for patrons of that weekend’s Give Hope a Home Holiday Home Tour, which featured peeks inside a number of festively decorated South of Broad residences. Doctors, supporters, and cancer survivors alike attended the fete to honor the American Cancer Society Hope Lodge program, which offers adult patients and their caretakers a free place to stay while traveling for treatment. VIPs mingled throughout the evening and enjoyed a delicious array of food and drinks, accompanied by jazzy, piano renditions of holiday classics. Heartwarming speeches were given by doctors and previous guests of the Lodge, including personal testimonies regarding the role the Lodge and its staff played in their recovery. Working to create a “home away from home,” Hope Lodge regional director Sundi Herring noted the immense difference guests’ contributions would make for those spending the holidays undergoing treatment.
Highlight: Previous Hope Lodge guest Kayleen Martin’s heartfelt story of her husband’s cancer diagnosis that eventually led them to the Hope Lodge.
Overheard: “It warms my heart to know they’re giving folks a happier Christmas.”
Beneficiary: The American Cancer Society Carol Grotnes Belk Hope Lodge
