Hospice to place former Gilda’s Club Mansion at 1140 Delaware Avenue on Market - Proceeds to Establish Endowment Fund

The Center for Hospice & Palliative Care’s (CHPC) Board of Trustees plans to move forward with the sale of the former Gilda’s Club WNY mansion at 1140 Delaware Avenue in Buffalo.  The Delaware mansion, which at one time was a private residence, is a 12,594 sq. ft., four level building.  The building was appraised in June 2010 for $1,385,000. 

Gilda’s Club WNY opened its doors in the fall of 2004. After years of financial struggle, the Gilda’s Club board approached CHPC’s board in early 2010 seeking an affiliation to give the program more time to solve its fiscal dilemma. Despite the challenges, in October 2010, CHPC entered into an affiliation with Gilda’s Club WNY. Both organizations shared the common purpose and mission to care for persons experiencing the impact of cancer and other serious illnesses. Hospice assumed the remaining $700,000 mortgage that remained on the 1140 Delaware Avenue building.

In November 2012, Gilda’s aligned with Life Transitions Center, The Center for Hospice & Palliative Care’s counseling agency, to operate under a less restrictive programming structure.  The ultimate goal was to provide better services to improve the network of support for those who seek help, regardless of illness, while being fiscally sound.

Since 2010, CHPC has invested several million dollars and significant resources in an effort to maintain programming and seek support to create a sustainable presence at 1140 Delaware. Unfortunately, the number of people availing themselves of services at the Delaware location continued to decline, despite significant efforts to partner with other community service organizations.

In early 2015, Life Transitions Center moved all support groups and counseling services from 1140 Delaware to the Mary & Ralph C. Wilson Jr. Counseling Center at 150 Bennett Road on The Hospice Mitchell Campus in Cheektowaga. Currently, all counseling and support services provided by Life Transitions Center occur at The Wilson Center.

CHPC’s board recognizes and is very sensitive to the tremendous community effort and charitable support that went into renovating the 1140 Delaware Avenue building and establishing Gilda’s Club. As such, the board will place the future net proceeds from the sale of the building into a board designated endowment fund to support counseling and support service for those impacted by serious illness and loss.  

“It is our intention to preserve the funds and invest in the valuable programs initially provided by Gilda’s Club WNY that are now provided through Life Transitions Center.   It has always been our goal to be responsible to the many generous donors, foundations and corporations that invested in the Gilda’s model. Creating an endowment fund from the proceeds of the sale of 1140 Delaware is our effort to acknowledge the community’s generosity and ensure that these services are available to those seeking support both now and in the future.” John Reinhold, CHPC Board Chair.