Several hundred Brantford area residents attended 50 Mission’s Hip for Hospice event, held in support of the Stedman Community Hospice, on Saturday, January 4, 2025.
The local Tragically Hip tribute band first held the event back in January of 2024 alongside Brantford band, Peeler, and raised just over $15,000 for the hospice.
Stedman, which serves residents living in Brantford, the County of Brant, Six Nations of the Grand River, Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation, Norfolk and Haldimand counties, provides-end-of-life patient care through its ten bed in-residence program, community outreach, and grief and bereavement support programs.
Julie Powell, President and CEO of St. Joseph’s Lifecare Foundation (the official fundraising organization for Stedman), explained back in December that because the government only provides 50 per cent of funding for the hospice, the team there depends on the community to help cover the other 50 per cent.
“We really rely on the support of organizations, individuals and groups in the community to help fund the hospice in regards to the sort of day-to-day bills that you have in your home like utilities and food, and the frontline grief and bereavement support programs,” said Powell. “Events like this one are so important to ensure we have the funding we need so no family ever receives a surprise bill.”
To kick off this year’s fundraiser, local band, Empty Hours, hit the stage with a mix of covers like The Zutons’ “Valerie,” the Foo Fighters’ “Everlong,” and Jimmy Eat World’s “The Middle,” as well as original music from their 2017 album “It’s About Time.”
50 Mission later took the stage to perform just over 20 songs for the crowd, and with hits from the Tragically Hip’s albums “Up to Here,” “Fully Completely,” “Road Apples,” “Day for Night,” “Trouble at the Henhouse,” “Phantom Power,” and even “In Violet Light” there were plenty of songs for all Hip fans to enjoy.
After the show, Leah and Emily Kruis, whose mother volunteers at the hospice, said that as Tragically Hip fans, they thought the show was “awesome.”
“It was absolutely amazing and I love that it was for a great cause, it was just awesome” said Leah.
Emily added that while all 23 of the songs were great, and that she was pleasantly surprised with the encore, her favourite was the big finale song, “New Orleans is Sinking.”
“Such a classic, it was great,” she said.
Dawn Hill and Trish Burnett, who spent a majority of the back half of the performance on their feet dancing, also had overall similar sentiments to the Kruis sisters.
“That was just amazing, we were fully dancing out of our seats by the end,” said Burnett, with a laugh.
“The lead singer’s voice was just great, I really can’t believe it,” added Hill. “I also loved that he wasn’t overly showy; he wasn’t trying to be Gord Downie or anything like that and you could see he was just being himself so I appreciated that. It was just so nice to see them and it’s a bonus that it’s for such a great cause.”
Kimberly De Jong’s reporting is funded by the Canadian government through its Local Journalism Initiative.The funding allows her to report rural and agricultural stories from Blandford-Blenheim and Brant County. Reach her at kimberly.dejong@brantbeacon.ca.
