November is celebrated all over the country as National Hospice Month. The local Hope Hospice & Palliative Care is sponsoring/hosting several events as part of this celebration.

Internationally known writer to speak on Nov. 18
Rabbi Harold S. Kushner, author of international best-sellers and award-winning inspirational and motivational books, will make a free presentation to the public at 7 p.m. at the Harborside Event Center. Kushner’s presentation will focus on his latest best-seller, The Lord Is My Shepherd: The Healing Wisdom of the Twenty-Third Psalm. The book will be available for purchase and the rabbi will sign books after the event.

“This presentation by Rabbi Kushner is our gift to the community,” said Hope Hospice president and CEO Samira K. Beckwith. “The people of Southwest Florida have been very good to us with both their gifts and their time… This is our way of saying thank you.”

Kushner’s presentation is the keynote event for the month.

Sanctuary Tennis Tournament in Sanibel
As another of the month’s signature events, the Sanctuary Golf Club will host the Hope Hospice Tennis Challenge on Saturday and Sunday, Nov. 22 & 23. This is a bracketed men’s and women’s doubles tournament; the format will be single elimination with consolation rounds. Deadline for entry is Wednesday, Nov. 19, at 5 p.m. and the entry fee is $50 per person (payable to Hope
Hospice).

For additional information, call Christie Bradley at 472-5276. Tournament play begins at 8:30 a.m. on Saturday. Entry fee includes continental breakfast and lunch on both Saturday and Sunday and a goodie bag for each player. Bracket winners and finalists, as well as consolation winnerswill receive awards designed by Luc Century.

Sponsorship Opportunities

  • Tournament Sponsors ($1,000) will be listed as such at the top of the sponsor’s board and appear prominently on the back of the T-shirt and in all press releases.
  • Court Sponsors ($500) will be so designated on the sponsor’s board, have their names in all press releases, and be listed on the T-shirt
  • Match Sponsors ($250) will be displayed as a Match Sponsor on the board, listed on the back of the shirt, and named in the program.
  • Set Sponsors ($100) will appear on the shirt and in the program.
  • All sponsors will receive a Luc Century original, and sponsors and donors will be listed in Wings of Hope, the Hope Hospice newsletter.

    Contributions of any amount in support of this event are
    always appreciated.

Artwork to benefit Hope Hospice
Also in recognition of National Hospice Month, Gulf Harbour Jewelers on McGregor in Fort Myers is exhibiting 15 acrylic and oil paintings by part-time Fort Myers resident Bill Wilhelm. There are still-lifes, landscapes and portraits among other subjects.

Entitled The Callepitar Collection, the sale of any of the works will benefit Hope Hospice, an organization the 85-year-old Wilhelm truly appreciates and supports.

His wife died of lung cancer on New Year’s Day, 2002, under the care of Hope Hospice and the collection is dedicated to her, to his two grandaughters and to his daughter. It is named for the way one of the granddaughters pronounced “caterpillar” … before she died at age 5 and a half of leukemia. Also available are signed bound copies of Wilhelm’s 90-piece collection.