The community has given so much support to Bracebridge’s the Pines Long-Term Care Home over the years that they ran out of space to honour the contributions, leading the home to bring in a local artist to expand their donor recognition wall.
The Pines installed the wall recognizing the home’s donors in 2009. Sculptor Brenda Wainman Goulet, known for bronze sculptures like Dr. Norman Bethune in Gravenhurst and Tom Thomson in Huntsville, created a three-dimensional tree to display the names of donors and their loved ones. Donations over $100 receive a plaque and a small red leaf; green leaves represent donations of $1,000 or more; brass sunbursts honour those who have contributed $5,000 or more; and donations of $100,000 or more are featured on the tree itself.
Adding warmth and growing gratitude
Leigh Ball, administrative clerk for the Pines, said the original wall was fairly small, but the overwhelming response from donors required an expansion.
“The original person who did the tree for us passed away because it was years ago, so we commissioned Kimberly Rideout, a local artist,” Ball said. “Her daughter is actually a [personal support worker] here, so we reached out to her to see if she could help bring more life into the tree and bring it around the corner and do what we can to acknowledge our donors.”
Beyond the connection with her daughter, Rideout also has her own history at the Pines after donating a mural to the home in 2022. The mural sits to the right of the donor recognition wall, so it’s no wonder the expansion turned into a second full-blown mural.
Ball said Rideout had many ideas for the space, including making another three-dimensional tree to accompany the original artwork. Rideout also wanted to ensure it was in harmony with the mural she donated, which has been a favourite of staff, residents and visitors alike.
“It’s made our home original,” Ball said. “It looks like home, it looks like Muskoka [and] it just warms up the home area up. She has different textures and different things, like limbs of trees and rocks and moths, so it brings the outside in, which is fantastic because, unfortunately, not everybody can get outside.”
The newly extended donor wall also features a range of natural elements, such as a river, a waterfall, and Forget-Me-Not flowers, which act as a symbol for Alzheimer’s. The wall turned out even better than Ball and the rest of her team anticipated, she said, adding that it’s a “true beauty.”
The Pines’ donors receive a receipt for their charitable contributions, and all donations go toward making the home a better place for its residents. Ball said it’s important to the staff at the Pines that the facility feels as homey as possible. They want to avoid the institutional feel that long-term care homes often have, and donors make it possible for them to achieve that goal.
“The least we can do is honour them in a space as beautiful as we have, so it’s going to be here for many years to come,” Ball said. “It’s just so nice to be able to thank them in a small way through the tree.”
Three days to transform the space
Bracebridge artist Kimberly Rideout is thrilled to be able to help honour donors while also making the space more hospitable for the residents of the Pines and their families. She knows the challenges of seeing a family member enter long-term care firsthand, so it means a great deal to her to be part of easing that transition.
“It’s very difficult to see a loved one get to the stage where it’s necessary for them to be in a care home, so they take comfort in knowing that there’s an incredible level of care there,” Rideout said. “Going that one step beyond to make the atmosphere and the environment for them that much more like a home away from home or a little community, that’s a hugely beneficial little piece of the puzzle.”
Like most of her murals, the donation wall update took Rideout only a few days. She never sketches out her paintings in advance, and while the Pines Support Committee provided feedback throughout the process, the Pines ultimately gave her free reign.
Much of it was based on the original artwork from Wainman Goulet as well as the mural Rideout previously contributed. When she did the initial mural, she chose the colours and composition to work in conjunction with the sculpture.
“My decision was based on this art piece that was already there,” she said. “There’s some orange and brassy gold tones in it, so that’s what led me to do the sunset in the other mural, because I wanted it to work in combination with the original art piece.”
The donor recognition area was only supposed to wrap around the corner of the wall, but thanks to the advice of her daughter and a coworker, she ended up extending the piece all the way around to the nearest door. She also added a background that faded into the original donor wall to help everything blend into one cohesive area.
During the two and a half days she worked, she used wood, foam and plaster to form a three-dimensional tree on the corner, replicating the nearby sculpture. The resulting artwork eventually doubled in size.
“That allowed us to have much more room for them going forward, to continue the leaves floating in the air above, so the process always just evolves as I go,” Rideout said. “I have a rough idea of what I want to create, but the exact picture really just develops as I’m painting.”
Rideout wants to remind people how much of a difference their donations make to the residents’ quality of life. Contributions big and small go toward changes that make tangible and noticeable impacts at the Pines. It means a lot to her to contribute to the Pines’ expressions of gratitude to donors, and she was on the receiving end of many thanks while working on the painting as well.
One local woman saw her recent artwork and shared how much the mural at the Pines meant to her and her late husband, who lived at the Pines for over five years. Many others have shared similar stories, remarking on the calming and lovely feelings they get while viewing her art.
“When I was painting there, it was a very overwhelmingly touching three days,” Rideout said. “The residents and the staff and the family members were so incredibly kind and complimentary and thrilled to see more work going in there.”
Rideout said many staff members had recommendations for other areas in the home that could use a new mural to brighten the space. She knows how hard the team at the Pines is working to make the facility more homey, which reflects the quality of care they offer, so she hopes to continue working with them to add more colour and life to their walls.
She has a vision for future paintings that feature buildings from the community on the doors and walls. The kitchen area could be styled as a bistro while the utility room could look like Knowles Plumbing, she said, helping to make it feel even more like a home away from home. She hopes it will inspire other long-term care homes to make similar changes.
Looking toward the future at the Pines
Mary Lodge, a member of the Pines Support Committee and a former employee at the Pines, has been involved in the home’s fundraising for many years. She’s played a role in the support committee since it was established in 2009. The committee raises money through fundraising events, memorials and other donations.
All the money they raise goes directly toward optimizing life at the Pines, and the donor recognition wall has been one way they honour the people who have allowed that to happen. Lodge and the rest of the committee want to thank Rideout for her work and the community for making it necessary.
“It’s been truly awe-inspiring for us,” Lodge said. “We’ve been so pleased that Kim was willing to do it, and she did such an amazing job. We’re also quite pleased that we’re in need of that since we never thought we would, so our community has been extremely generous.”
The money donated by the community has helped the committee complete many important projects. They’ve been able to purchase important medical equipment like palliative care carts, steady lifts and sit-to-stand lifts. They’ve also provided iPads to help residents stay in touch with family as well as smart TVs and computers for residents to use.
Most recently, the committee bought 160 new hi-low beds for everyone at the home, reducing fall risk and improving resident care. Lodge and the others on the committee look forward to filling up the newly enlarged donor recognition wall, and they already have their next home improvement in the works.
“We’re working diligently on trying to create a garden outside close to the Pines, between the Pines and the district, so that our residents can have a lot of safe exposure to the outdoors,” she said. “That is our next big project.”
To learn more about the Pines Long-Term Care Home, visit the District of Muskoka website.
