A groundbreaking ceremony was held today in Santa Maria to celebrate the collaboration on an upcoming hospice and senior housing center.
The ceremony commenced a series of building and remodeling projects that will eventually become the first dedicated hospice center in the community.
"I am just totally grateful," Sister Maria Elena Martinez said, who is the provincial minister of the Sisters of Saint Francis Province. "... I feel a moment of great joy and great hope. I hope this place will be a place of light and hope for the city of Santa Maria and for the sisters."
The project is a collaboration between Sisters of Saint Francis of Penance and Christian Charity, Marian Regional Medical Center, NKT Commercial, and People's Self-Help Housing.
The construction also includes a multiplex of low-income senior housing that's expected to be completed in the next 3 to 5 years.
The land on which the complex will be built was donated to the Sisters of Saint Francis of Penance and Christian Charity in 1940 by John and Marian Hancock.
