Community Hospice is consistently blessed by the generous hearts of the people and businesses that support us in the communities that we serve. This support is shown in many ways, including memorial contributions, volunteer services and on-going support of our benefits and fund raising activities.
The elements of generosity and volunteer service came together in a recent major gift provided to Community Hospice. For many years Velma Truman and her sister, Lela, volunteered their time and talents to help with administrative tasks at the hospice office. When Lela passed away, Velma could no longer come into the office, but had a strong desire to continue to serve. On a monthly basis, hospice staff took volunteer information to Velma who transformed the information into useful reports that assisted in tracking pertinent data for regulatory purposes. In her later years, Velma also contributed most of the reading material in the organizations library and provided puzzles, books and other activities for patient enjoyment. Velma truly lived a life of service to others. She also lived frugally; expressing that her hope at the end of life was to provide resources to the local charities that she was passionate about.
Velma Truman passed away on April 3, 2015. In her will, she designated a more than 1.5 million dollar gift to Community Hospice. This is the largest single gift Community Hospice has received during its thirty year history. The gift was applied to the mortgage of the Hospice House which reduced the current Hospice House mortgage to slightly more than 3.6 million dollars. In the 4 years since the Hospice House opened, with the support of the community, the mortgage has been reduced by more than 1/3 of the original amount.
In honor of Velma’s significant gift, Community Hospice will be renaming its Tuscarawas County facility and in-patient unit to the Truman House. While the name of the organization will continue to be Community Hospice, plans are underway to reflect The Truman House name in new signage. The unveiling and introduction of the new name will be at the Community Hospice donor reception scheduled for September 22, 2016. Community Hospice Truman House is located at 716 Commercial Avenue SW in New Philadelphia.