Miracle on North Loudon Street

Southern Living Style in the Lowcountry

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By Edwina Hoyle
Photography by Laurey Glenn Photography  |  Renderings by LS3P Architects


The pandemic may feel like the Grinch Who Stole Christmas, but the magic of the holiday season is alive and well, filled with hope and real miracles right here in the Lowcountry.

The 33rd annual Festival of Trees, a longtime fundraiser filled with holiday tradition for Friends of Caroline Hospice, was cancelled this year due to the covid pandemic. For more than three decades, businesses and organizations sponsored trees by purchasing and decorating them. The public then bought the well-appointed, beautiful trees for either for their homes, to give to a hospice patient, or for a military family. This holiday fundraiser typically raised $30-40,000 to provide palliative and hospice care, bereavement groups, and Camp Caroline, a bereavement camp for students.

It was a tough decision for the board and staff to make, according to LaNelle Fabian, Director of Community Engagement at Friends of Caroline Hospice. “As part of the healthcare industry, we felt it was important to set a higher standard during the pandemic,” she said. Just as this decision was being made, however, a small miracle happened. They got a call from Jodie Miller, a representative from Allen Patterson Builders at the Southern Living inspired community of Habersham. They were planning a house-tour event at the 2020 Southern Living Showcase home and wanted the proceeds to benefit Friends of Caroline Hospice just in time for the holidays.MiracleonNorthLoudonSt 1220 2

“The Festival of Trees spirit and tradition is still alive, but with a different twist!” said LaNelle. “We are appreciative to Habersham and hope the community supports us with this spin of events. Our sponsors stuck with us this year, and we are very grateful.”

The 2020 Southern Living Showcase Home will be fully decorated for the holidays. The home is the result of a collaboration with Southern Living Magazine and the Southern Living Custom Builder Program. This single story cottage, The Loudon, designed by Bridgewater and built by Allen Patterson Builders, features interior design by K. Lo Style & Design.

The Loudon, a Southern Living House Plan, is designed with easy living in mind and is built with innovative quality, functionality and luxury. The home is located at 10 N. Loudon in Habersham just minutes from historic Beaufort.

The house tour, however, is only the tip of the iceberg. Residents of Habersham have done their part to banish the Grinch, too!  

Nearly 30 Habersham homes will have decorated Christmas trees on their porches to offer a free drive-thru tour in the community. In addition, residents have filled the volunteer roster to work the large number of shifts as docents at the house tour. A pop-up Christmas tree lot will be held at the Huckleberry Home, and a portion of the tree sales will be donated to Friends of Caroline Hospice.
Fabian said businesses and restaurants at Habersham Marketplace will be decorated for the holidays, too, for shopping and dining. “It’s an opportunity for people to walk through the marketplace, shop and have dinner. And the home tour and businesses will all have donation boxes set up for us.”

Habersham is a beautiful community complete with a quaint town marketplace of its own, which feels like the coziest spot in the Lowcountry. If you have never ventured into this community, now you have all the best reasons to go—holiday cheer, the spirit of Christmas and making a difference for a meaningful cause.

The fully decorated home will be open for tours throughout December,
Wednesday-Sunday
from 10 am – 5 pm.

Tickets are only $10 per person and are available at
www.habershamsc.com/showcase-home or www.FOCHospice.org.
A portion of all ticket sales go to benefit local non-profit Friends of Caroline Hospice.

 

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Friends of Caroline Hospice Needs Your Help to Build the Lowcountry’s First Inpatient Hospice Facility

In March, 2019, Friends of Caroline Hospice launched a capital campaign to construct the Caroline House, an inpatient hospice facility near the John Paul School II Catholic School on Route 170 in Ridgeland. Virginia Henneberry, who is the Development Associate at Friends of Caroline Hospice, said it will be the first inpatient facility in the Lowcountry. Right now the closest inpatient facility in South Carolina is Roper Hospice in Mt. Pleasant, north of Charleston. The only other option is to go out of state. “The Lowcountry deserves this. And because we are a non-profit, we will serve patients no matter where they live in the four counties we serve, regardless of their ability to pay. The Caroline House will be an extension of our current services, and patients will never receive a bill.”

Proceeds from the 2020 Southern Living Showcase Home Tour will not fund this capital campaign, but rather the aid in the annual operating expenses of the organization.  

To date, half of the goal for the Caroline House has been reached, and they will soon excitedly break ground, hoping to open by the end of 2021. Virginia said that eight private patient rooms are designed like personal bedrooms, not a sterile environment. Each room will have its own screened-in porch with doors large enough to accommodate the bed so patients can enjoy nature and serenity, regardless of their mobility.

“Covid caused us to pivot away from fundraising efforts to groups. It’s now more one-on-one. We need people to be informed about this project and to make an investment in this project. It’s really an investment in our community,” Virginia said.

To learn more or donate to the Caroline House visit www.FOChospice.org or call 843-525-6257. You can mail a donation to The Caroline House, c/o Friends of Carolina Hospice, 1110 13th Street, Port Royal, SC 29935.

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