JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- A donation of millions of dollars will begin the process of bringing a Hope Lodge to Jacksonville for use by people having to travel here for cancer treatment.
The Mayo Clinic of Jacksonville is donating the land to build the Hope Lodge, plans are to build it by 2018.
Richard Schulze, CEO of Best Buy and the founder of the Richard Schulze Family Foundation, is donating $9.6 million to build the 32 room facility for use by adult cancer patients. It will alleviate the financial burden of paying for somewhere to stay for patients and their loved ones--those who travel here from out of town for cancer treatments at any of the many healthcare facilities in this area.
Schulze donated money to build two Hope Lodges in Rochester and Minneapolis near the Mayo Clinics there.
"Because we are residents in Florida, we happen to live in Naples but we are very proud of what has gone on in Florida at so many different levels in the treatment of this disease," said Schulze. "It seemed like the natural next best step particularly with Mayo's newly developed campus right here in the city."
The American Cancer Society will operate the facility, but must first raise matching funds of $9.6 million from donors in Northeast Florida to build it and fund its continued operation. The volunteer organization says this Hope Lodge will help save lives by improving their quality of life.
"That is very important. And there is growing literature about the outcomes, and the quality of the life of the patient undergoing treatment, it relates to their ultimate survival," Schulze said.
Chris Wong of Jacksonville stayed at the Hope Lodge in Gainesville for 5 months after being diagnosed with non-hodgkins lymphoma in 2009. He says the staff made it a home, and it was vital to his recovery.
"And the fact that you are able to meet and be with other people who are fighting a similar battle to yours makes the lodge invaluable to someone undergoing cancer and the treatments involved with it. Because you have someone you can relate to on a one-to-one basis," Wong said.
"It will for sure make the experience of going through their cancer treatment a lot more gentle, a lot more memorable," added Schulze. He and his wife donate to these causes because they both lost former spouses to cancer. "It is a wonderful facility."
Currently there are 31 Hope Lodges around the country,. This one here in Jacksonville would become the third in the state of Florida, joining Gainesville and Tampa. Each lodge is equipped with a community dining room, kitchen, family room, library, and laundry facilities.
A wide variety of programs and services are offered to support patients staying there. Emotional support is there to ease the cancer journey.
