Castlegar Hospice Society held their annual Celebration of Life kickoff event at the Super 8 Motel on Thursday night."This was the unveiling of our Celebrate a Life 2012," said Suzanne Lehbauer, executive director of Castlegar Hospice. "This year's theme is Families Across the Miles and it's in honour of our sister city Embetsu, Japan. So we did that in conjunction with our reception for our volunteers, our board members, and, of course, all our community partners."
There were four Selkirk College students from Japan in attendance who helped create origami butterflies and origami cranes which were an integral part of the display.
The memorial trees are on display at the Super 8 lobby from now until Jan. 8.
"People can come in and look at the display," said Lehbauer. "They can also place a card on one one of our donation trees on behalf of a loved one. This is one of the major fundraisers for Castelgar Hospice for the year."
Placing the first card on the tree this year was Anne Fomenoff, who helped found the Castlegar Hospice Society. Fomenoff placed a card for her daughter, Gloria Taylor.