Friends of Hospice will host the Stroke of Genius Extravaganza on January 27 at the Bermuda Underwater Exploration Institute to raise funds for hospice care.

“The main focus of this event is intended to demonstrate this concept by having children and their loved ones work together to create a continuous, single work of art that they can keep,” Jennifer Mahoney, the executive director of Friends of Hospice, said.

The event was originally scheduled for October, but was postponed until this month.

“There were so many events that suddenly popped up in October or were rescheduled at the last minute, so we decided to opt for a period where there was less going on and therefore provide greater value to the community,” Ms Mahoney said.

The winter-themed extravaganza is a family event in which parents and children can create unique works of art. Ms Mahoney told The Royal Gazette that local artist Heidi Louise Smith will be the primary facilitator for the artwork portion of the event.

Participants will be contacted before the event and given multiple image options to select from. The children-friendly event focuses on preliminary canvas tracing as opposed to painting images freehand.

Ticket are $60 per person and will include a family painting session, lunch, s’more making, a hot chocolate and snowman station, arts and crafts and a mini scavenger hunt. Prizes for the scavenger hunt will be awarded based on age categories. The extravaganza runs from 10am to 2pm.

“Besides for raising funds, it is a great opportunity for us to raise awareness of hospice care and start to change the narrative,” Ms Mahoney said. “So many people perceive hospice care as a scary, sad place, really true hospice care focuses on living by enhancing the quality of life for those we serve and their loved one.

“One way that we do that is by helping to facilitate opportunities for them to create memories. Over the last 29 years that we have supported Agape House, there have been hundreds of these moments, ranging from a wedding to Gombey dancers performing, family barbecues, celebrations of life, such as birthdays, holidays and recently an Azorean-themed party.”

Friends of Hospice is non-profit organisation that supports Agape House. Ticket proceeds will be used to support various programmes and services, including the Connections programme, emotional support, therapeutic services, a full-time personal chef and celebrations of life.

There is a maximum of 70 tickets available for this event. All activities are scheduled, and attendees are encouraged to be there at 10am. The event is being sponsored by D&J Construction and the Lindo’s Group of Companies.

Tickets can be purchased online at Ptix.bm until January 25.

• For more information, call 232-0859 or e-mail executive.director@hospice.bm