Benefit to support Ballston Spa’s Gateway House of Peace Saturday

Two local individuals will be performing at a benefit for the Gateway House of Peace on Saturday at 1 p.m. in the Malta Avenue Elementary School auditorium. 

Patricia A. Nugent and Michael Jerling will be performing together, as Nugent will read excerpts from her memoir “They Live On: Saying Goodbye to Mom and Dad” and Jerling will sing. 

The Gateway House of Peace is a comfort care house in Ballston Spa that provides ‘round-the-clock care to those at the end of their lives at no cost to them or their families. 

Nancy Dwyer, president of the nonprofit, said residents must be under the care of Saratoga County Hospice for medical needs, but the Gateway House of Peace provides the housing and care the resident would get if they were in their own home. 

“So Gateway House of Peace is an end-of-life care home not a hospice house, although the challenge is hospice is a philosophy of care but hospice is also an entity,” she said. “We subscribe to the hospice philosophy of care for end of life. Our residents must be part of hospice, but we provide the 24-hour coverage of care.” 

The comfort care house is a nonprofit organization that isn’t funded by the government or by insurance. It raises money strictly through fundraising and grants. This benefit, the brainchild of Nugent and Jerling, is just one way to raise money. 

The collaboration of Nugent and Jerling has resulted in a tribute to life, loss and love titled “They Live On … in Word and Song.” It features Nugent’s prose coupled with nine original songs by Jerling. Previously the two performed in November to a sold-out audience at Caffe Lena.

“They joined in the common piece of saying goodbye: How does it feel and what does it look like?” Dwyer said. “They will have you in cleansing tears and then you’ll be laughing, so you’ll have realizations of ‘OK, I get it and it’s OK, and I do miss them but they do live on.’ ”  

Dwyer noted that during and following the performance various agencies will be offering free information and resources to the public. As one of the House’s missions is to provide information and help to people who might never be in the home but might be in the end-of-life phase with their families, the expo can provide those resources. 

Agencies such as the state Office of the Aging, Townley & Wheeler Funeral Home, Hospice, Southern Adirondack Independent Living (SAIL), Gina’s Wisdom Center, Starsia Law and Gateway House of Peace will be in attendance. The mini-expo will be available from 1 to 3:30 p.m. 

“The more prepared we are, the more at ease we are,” Dwyer said. “I have 82- and 85-year-old parents myself, and we are walking through this to make sure we know all this information. And I’m walking the walk going, ‘You know, we need to get all these people under one roof so that people have access in a one-stop shop, so people have information they need or are going to need.’” 

Dwyer said the agencies were excited to be a part of the event and she hopes to do larger events in the future to answer all questions surrounding the end of life, from Medicaid to funeral services. 

The information expo is a free event and attendees do not need a ticket. To attend the performance, tickets will be required. Tickets for the show range in price from $30 for one or $50 for two, with a reception to follow, and can be purchased at https://www.gatewayhouseofpeace.org/eventsghp.