Lehigh Hope Hospice ground breaking: Taking part in the ceremonial breaking of ground for the new Lehigh Acres Hope Hospice House Thursday are from left to right, Lee County Commissioner Frank Mann, Dick Ackart, chairman of the board of Hope Hospice; Samira Beckwith, president and CEO of Hope Hospice, and Fred Peshkan, a member of the board of directors of Hope Hospice. In the background is a rendering of the proposed Hope Hospice House in Lehigh on Beth Stacey Blvd. Photo by Mel Toadvine

Some 50 butterflies were released Thursday morning in Lehigh following brief ground breaking ceremonies marking the beginning of construction of the new Hope Hospice House off of Beth Stacey Blvd. in Lehigh Acres.

U.S. Rep. Connie Mack, (R-14) spoke briefly and said he thanked those who have given money and pledged funds on behalf of the community in which the Hope House will serve. Samira K. Beckwith, Hope HealthCare Services president, introduced Mack as about 50 people from the community sat under a large white tent. She also introduced other dignitaries, including local fund-

raiser chairmen, Ruth Anglickis and Karen Makowski and honorary fundraising chairman, Myra Kessler.

Beckwith said construction actually began a few weeks ago and the ceremony Thursday was “a symbolic turning-of-dirt.”

The new facility will have 24 private patient care suites, bereavement counseling offices, a chapel, and community rooms for educational programs. The building will be 45,000 square feet and is scheduled to open in February of 2010, Beckwith said.

Butterfly release: Some 50 butterflies were released following ground breaking ceremonies of the new $5 million Hope Hospice House in Lehigh Acres Thursday. Shown here is a butterfly ready for flight. Also releasing the butterflies are from left to right, Samira Beckwith, CEO and president of Hope Hospice, U.S. Rep. Connie Mack (R-14) and Fred Peshkan, a member of the board of directors of Hope Hospice in Lee County. Photo by Mel Toadvine

The ceremony only lasted a few minutes and Beckwith asked Mack, Lee County Commissioner Frank Mann, Fred Pezeshkan, a member of the Hope Hospice board of directors, and Dick Ackart, chairman of the Board for Hospice, to join her in using golden painted shovels to break the ground and make it official.

Everyone who attended was given a small packet, about the size of a pad of matches, which contained a live butterfly. Beckwith and the group left the white tent and outside, she asked all to open the packet to release them at the same time.

The butterflies, a symbol of hope, fluttered for several minutes in the shade of a large oak tree near the construction site. Then they flew up into a slight breeze and were carried away over the building site.

Beckwith said the capital campaign for $5 million has been underway for about two years. So far, she said Hope Hospice has raised about $2 million in funds and pledges.

“We had to get this house underway. The people are waiting for it,” she said.

The new Hope Hospice House joins three others in Lee County. There is one in Cape Coral with 36 beds, one in Bonita with 24 beds and one at HealthPark with 16 beds. Lehigh’s Hope Hospice House becomes the fourth and Beckwith said it will serve the eastern part of Lee County, including Lehigh Acres and areas westward into Glades and Hendry counties.

“Families in Clewiston will be served from our new Hope House in Lehigh,” Beckwith said.

Beckwith said Hope Hospice serves the public without regard to diagnosis, gender, religious affiliation, age, life circumstances of the ability pay.

She said the mission of Hope Hospice is to provide the care, comfort and services that will serve those needs. Joe Whalen, the CEO of the Lehigh Acres Chamber of Commerce, said the project “was wonderful for

Lehigh.”

“This is a great event for our community to have Hope Hospice here,” he said.