By Michael Riley, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

The Bancroft Lions Club, in coordination with BMR Bancroft, who provided the materials at a good cost, repaired the accessibility ramp out front of the Hospice North Hastings building on Hwy. 28 recently. The Lions who did the work were Mikki Fallon, Nipper Dougall, Bryan Adams and Steve Scally. Adams and Hospice NH Palliative Care Manager Katrina Brodofske comment to The Bancroft Times on this much needed repair to their premises. 

Adams told The Bancroft Times on Sept. 13 that the repairs started with his wife Julie entering Hospice on Aug. 15, and that he visited every day and saw that the ramp was closed and badly in need of repairs. 

I spoke with the staff at Hospice North Hastings and they said yes indeed it needed to be repaired and that there was some difficulty get gurneys up the ramp at the corner.   I then took it to the club and asked whether they were willing to put forward the money and manpower to fix the ramp.   The answer was an immediate yes.   Time passed and on, and on Sept.1 my wife Julie passed.   At the lions meeting we held that week we moved forward with the repairs.   Lion Nipper Dougall and I went to BMR.   BMR was only too happy to give us an extremely good deal on the material required. They even delivered it to the job site.   The members involved in the repair were Lion Nipper Dougall, Lion Bryan Adams, Lion Micki Fallon, and Lion Steve Scally.   We removed all of the rotten wood and posts and reinstalled with all new material.   We cut the corner off so that gurneys could round the corner better as new patients came into the hospice care. The whole affair took us about 13 hours  of construction time over two days. There is no superlative that could describes the staff at the hospice.   They are so wonderful and really made the passing of my wife so much easier.  A hidden gem of Bancroft that people pass by sometimes daily and don't realize what they have,” he says. 

Brodofske confirmed to The Bancroft Times that the Bancroft Lions Club noticed that their ramp was in need of some repairs and kindly reached out to ask if they could help. 

“We are incredibly grateful for the Bancroft Lions and the support they have shown Hospice North Hastings over the years. Their willingness to step in and help our hospice is a wonderful example of the generosity and community spirit we are so fortunate to have here in North Hastings. BMR also generously helped provide some of the materials for the project, which were donated to Hospice North Hastings. We are very grateful for their continued support as well. This is exactly the kind of community support that means so much to us. As any repairs and maintenance to our hospice home come directly from our funded dollars, having local businesses and organizations willing to contribute their time, materials and expertise allows those dollars to go further toward providing care to our residents and supporting the services we offer to our community. We truly appreciate both the Bancroft Lions Club and BMR for helping us maintain and improve our hospice home,” she says. “As Hospice North Hastings continues to grow, this kind of local support makes such a meaningful difference.”