Kamloops hospice receives large donation

KAMLOOPS – A donation from the family of a recent Kamloops Hospice patient is a big boost to the association.

The Kourourpis family raised more than $12,000 in memory of Cindy Kouroupis, who passed away at the hospice home at the age of 47 this past December.

The fundraising was something Kouroupis’s family wanted to do in her memory because she was a palliative care nurse, Kamloops Hospice Association Executive Director Wendy Marlow says.

“This was something they wanted to do in memory of their mother,” Marlow says. “She was here for a few weeks.”

During that time Marlow says the family were regular visitors to the home.

The fundraising campaign was aiming for $4,700, because of Kouroupis’s age, but quickly surpassed the goal as people reached out. 

The hospice is partially funded by Interior Health but makes up a large portion of it’s budget through donations, Marlow says. The $12,000 is a big deal to the association.

“We have to raise $800,000. It’s either through individual or memorial donations, or fundraising,” she says.

To contact a reporter for this story, email Brendan Kergin at bkergin@infonews.ca or call 250-819-6089. To contact an editor, email mjones@infonews.ca or call 250-718-2724.