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Supporters contribute more than $3 million to build the Bon Secours Reinhart Guest House
Leaders of Bon Secours Virginia Health System, St. Mary’s Hospital and community supporters gathered today to celebrate construction and recognize key contributors to the Bon Secours Reinhart Guest House. The 14,000-square-foot residence, offering overnight accommodations to visiting families, is located on the St. Mary’s campus. The name of the guest house was unveiled at today’s groundbreaking ceremony.
Situated along Libbie Avenue on property owned by Bon Secours, the Bon Secours Reinhart Guest House is named in honor of Evelyn D. Reinhart, a former St. Mary’s nurse and volunteer who succumbed to cancer in 1986, and whose family has contributed $1 million to the fundraising effort.
“Today marks an exciting milestone in St. Mary’s campus development,” said Toni Ardabell, CEO, Bon Secours St. Mary’s Hospital. “Building a campus guest house has been an important component of our campus master plan, which was set in motion after our community charrette planning process was held in 2009. We are very grateful to this community, and especially the Reinhart family, for their commitment in helping to provide families with a home-like place on our campus, enabling them to stay close to their loved ones.”
A place for families to eat, relax, work and pray, the Bon Secours Reinhart Guest House will offer 16 guest rooms with private baths, common areas, a reflection room, two kitchens, large gathering rooms, a playroom and a sun porch. Its two-story, brick Colonial design complements the homes in nearby neighborhoods and offers landscaped gardens and grounds, also for reflection.
“Bon Secours and St. Mary’s have long demonstrated a commitment to providing excellence in care and services,” said Peter J. Bernard, CEO, Bon Secours Virginia Health System. “Greater numbers of patients are traveling longer distances to receive surgery or cancer treatments, and having family nearby is essential to their healing. Through the Bon Secours Reinhart Guest House, we are helping to restore not only patients, but entire families, to wholeness.”
Designed by Odell Associates, the Bon Secours Reinhart Guest House is the first major building project on this section of Libbie Avenue in more than 45 years. Completion is projected for May 2014.
A $3 million fundraising campaign, initiated in 2011 by the Bon Secours Richmond Health Care Foundation, resulted in support from physicians, volunteers, patients and families who were committed to creating a home-like, comforting environment for visiting families. In addition to the Reinhart family, other key supporters include the Ronald McDonald House Charities of Richmond, whose gift of $175,000 will establish a pediatrics wing at the guest house, creating three sleeping rooms and a playroom dedicated to families of pediatric patients. Other support came from the St. Mary’s Volunteer Auxiliary, as well as from the physician community.
Fundraising chairs of the Bon Secours St. Mary’s Guest House Fundraising Committee are Carmella Bladergroen and Nancy Plageman.
“I am pleased that so many supporters, including individual donors, members of the physician community and organizations like the Ronald McDonald House, contributed to this special house,” said Nancy Plageman, co-chair of the Guest House Fundraising Committee. “It is the Reinhart family’s sincere wish that Evelyn Reinhart’s memory is honored by providing out-of-town families with a comfortable home away from home, where they may gather and rest, share their worries, prayers, frustrations and hopes with one another, and easily attend to their hospitalized loved ones. Their wish is now a reality.”
