 The Good Samaritan Society hospice in Niswa hosted a living legacy celebration for their patient Tina Leonard Sunday afternoon. Family from Mississippi was able to attend thanks to a grant through the National Hospice Foundation. Reporter Rachel Johnson has more. Lakewood Evangelical Church in Baxter was bustling Sunday afternoon with family and friends of Tina Leonard. A living legacy celebration was underway to celebrate the life of Tina, who is suffering from pancreatic cancer. Instead of an end-of-life celebration after someone dies, we do it before they die. We invite their family and friends and we facilitate conversations like what are you going to miss most about me? What's your favorite memory? So we're doing this to help get closure for one thing, but it brings people together and they get to really enjoy one big, you know, one big shabane celebration. This celebration was extra special due to a Lighthouse of Hope grant that was awarded to the hospice allowing Tina's sister and niece to be able to travel from Mississippi to attend the celebration. At hospice we are able to access that fund and we did that in this particular situation and we were able to use that money, that grant money, to go ahead and, you know, fly her sister and her niece to come out and spend time with her. The Lighthouse of Hope fund aims to grant end-of-life requests such as visiting a long-lost family member, return to a favorite place, or a simple dream such as a date night with a spouse to those living with life-limiting illnesses. It's the world to us to be able to tell her how we feel and spend time with her and just, you know, everything in the world. These living legacy celebrations do more than just allow for people to say goodbye. They are a way to celebrate a life well-lived alongside the person of honor. Hospice has a stigma of just death, but we try to make sure that every day counts. So this is just one example of one of those things that we get to do. We often find that peace comes from having those kinds of conversations with family and friends. For Tina, the living legacy was a great opportunity to reach out to her loved ones and to get everyone together for a final celebration. For me personally it was a chance to reach out to all my family and friends and to express to them how much I love them and how much I appreciate everything they've stepped up and done for my husband and I. Reporting from Baxter, Rachel Johnson, Lakeland News. For more information on the Lighthouse of Hope Fund that brought Tina and her sister together for the first time in 11 years, visit our story on our website at lptv.org. If you enjoyed this segment of Lakeland News, please consider making a tax-deductible contribution to Lakeland PBS.