Pathways of Remembrance

Join Us in Creating a Legacy, While Honoring Your Loved One

The Vision

For those who have visited the Milch-Mitchell campus, home of Hospice & Palliative Care Buffalo, you know that it serves as a refuge: a quiet, wooded, peaceful place for healing and reﬂection. Having served thousands of patients over the years, visitors here appreciate the opportunity to stroll the beautifully manicured grounds, commune in our gardens which have been thoughtfully maintained by our team of volunteers and take time for reﬂection in our various courtyards and memorial walkways.

While our buildings and outdoor spaces satisfy a variety of needs, we recognize a crucial need for spaces that offer solace and tranquility, particularly for families and patients navigating end-of-life hospice care. We have always strived to create environments where individuals can find moments of peace and quiet amidst challenging circumstances.

With this in mind, we are embarking on an initiative to expand our outdoor spaces, aiming to provide greater opportunities for our community to gather and seek respite. Our vision encompasses not only a sanctuary for patients but also a place for families, staff, volunteers, and donors to come together in support and reflection.

Community Engagement

We envision a space where we can host a variety of events and activities that will also be a resource to the community and our team of more than 450 employees. Plans include a signature pavilion where we can host various community gatherings, including staff, volunteer and donor events, support groups, and our annual Light-a-life Memorial Tree Lighting ceremony. In addition to fulfilling our identified space needs, the pavilion will be available to organizations and groups community-wide to further cultivate partnerships and mutually support shared mission.

We also recognize the importance of fostering greater synergy and cohesion among our staff and community. Through thoughtful design, we aim to integrate our physical spaces with optimized employee functions, ensuring a more unified and cohesive campus community.

Building Connection

Alongside the signature pavilion, we're developing a wheelchair-accessible boardwalk with multiple pathways connecting key areas of our campus, including the administration building, the in-patient unit, and the Wilson Support Center.

These pathways will not only facilitate movement throughout our campus but also offer serene routes for contemplation and connection with nature.

The boardwalk will include a bird observatory with seating along the way where visitors can pause and take time to appreciate the birds, deer, and other animals that frequent our campus.

Remembrance and Reflection

Enhancing our outdoor spaces extends beyond mere functionality; it's about creating sanctuaries of tranquility for our patients and families during their most vulnerable moments. These freshly designed spaces will feature lush gardens and areas for reflection, providing peaceful havens amidst the challenges of end-of-life care.

In addition, we are introducing naming opportunities within these spaces, allowing families to honor and memorialize their loved ones in a meaningful and lasting way. These personalized tributes will serve as enduring reminders of the love and cherished memories shared with those who have passed.

A new children’s memory garden will also be developed as part of this initiative, providing a special place to memorialize and honor the children lost in our Essential Care for Children program.

As part of our effort to secure funding for this important growth plan, we are honored to have the support of a fundraising committee, working together with us to achieve our goal of completing this project.

We thank this special group:

Edward F. Walsh, Jr.
Michael F. Thompson
Linda Maggio
Erika Maritime
Robert Goldberg
Vicki Feine

Create a Legacy

Over the years, given the consistent community support, HPCB has grown from serving 700 patients daily to over 1,100 each day. Our Wilson Support Center provides further embrace to these patients and their loved ones through individualized grief support that extends to the greater WNY community at large.

This expanded space plan is the next step in growth and evolution of the Milch-Mitchell campus, and we welcome you to be a part of our Pathways of Remembrance campaign. These newly designed spaces will not only be a resource to you and your family but will provide an opportunity to memorialize and honor your loved ones with a permanent form of donor recognition that will be visible and open to visit at any time.