01/20/11  In celebration of Center for Hospice Care’s (CHC) 30 year anniversary in providing quality end-of-life care to the citizens of northern Indiana, the Hospice Foundation recently published a commemorative cookbook comprised of favorite recipes of many of the patients served by Center for Hospice Care’s staff, volunteers and constituents.  The cookbook, titled Sweet Memories, is currently available for sale for $26.50 through the organization’s website, www.CenterforHospice.org. 

Recipes featured within the cookbook were submitted by the families of those that have lost loved ones.  Families were encouraged to include a photo along with brief comments about their loved one’s recipe, which has created a cookbook unlike any other.  The resulting cookbook serves as a tribute to local community members that have passed.  Their recipes, which include savory selections of appetizers, soups and salads, side dishes, main courses, breakfasts and desserts will live on for years to come and for generations to enjoy.

“We know that so many special memories include family gatherings where loved ones cooked up some of their favorite, signature recipes for all to enjoy,” said Mike Wargo, the Hospice Foundation’s chief operating officer.  “Compiling a cookbook of these recipes has given the families of those that have lost loved ones a way for a small part of them to carry on through these recipes.”

While the initial shipment of cookbooks for those that had pre-ordered them arrived prior to the holidays, the Hospice Foundation will continue to take orders for the cookbook throughout the year.  In fact, many local families have expressed their interest in utilizing this cookbook as a heartfelt gift for both family and friends for countless occasions.  According to Debra Mayfield at the Hospice Foundation, one local family ordered 11 cookbooks to be given to family members all across the U.S. as gifts, so their grandmother’s recipes could live on in her memory.  Another local resident had purchased five cookbooks to present to her family members at their Christmas dinner – a special dinner that included several of her mother’s recipes that she had contributed to the cookbook. 

The Sweet Memories cookbook is just another simple gesture of caring that Center for Hospice Care and the Hospice Foundation offer to the community. 

About Center for Hospice Care

Founded in 1978 by a group of dedicated volunteers, CHC has grown from a small, single-county provider into Indiana’s Most Chosen Hospice Program, serving more than 350 patients on a daily basis throughout our eight-county service area: St. Joseph, Marshall, Fulton, LaGrange, Elkhart, LaPorte, Starke, and Kosciusko Counties.