SALISBURY – Coastal Hospice & Palliative Care announces a major gift to its campaign to build Coastal Hospice at the Ocean. The Homer & Martha Gudelsky Foundation has invested $250,000 to support the project.

This is the foundation’s second gift to the campaign. In 2013, they made a grant of $50,000 to Coastal Hospice at the Ocean.

The Gudelsky gift will be commemorated in the naming of the Family Room at the new facility. The Family Room will be an integral part of the care offered, and a warm and inviting place where the family and friends of residents can gather and relax.

The projected cost to build Coastal Hospice at the Ocean is $5 million, and with the Gudelsky gift, the total raised towards the project to date is $2.8 million, exceeding the halfway mark.

“This generous gift to our capital campaign takes us one step closer to breaking ground on this much-needed care facility that will serve the entire Lower Eastern Shore of Maryland,” said Alane Capen, president of Coastal Hospice. “The Gudelsky Foundation’s vote of confidence in the project assures its future success.”

John Gudelsky, the president and CEO of the foundation, and the son of Homer and Martha Gudelsky, said they were making the gift to encourage others in the community to make similar investments in Coastal Hospice at the Ocean, ensuring the future of quality healthcare on the Lower Shore.

Coastal Hospice at the Ocean will be a hospice residence and outreach center to be built in Berlin. It will address a growing and unmet need here: a residence for hospice care for patients who are not able to stay in their homes during their final days.

When built, Coastal Hospice at the Ocean will feature a home-like atmosphere for residents. It will also serve as headquarters for the hospice team that cares for 40 to 60 patients in their own homes each day in Worcester and Somerset counties. In addition, Coastal Hospice at the Ocean will offer palliative care clinics (to treat the physical, emotional and spiritual pain that comes with serious illness), and facilities for grief support and community education.

The Gudelsky Foundation has a long history of philanthropic activity in Maryland and the nation. They are active supporters of the University of Maryland Medical System, UMBC’s Department of Marine Biotechnology, Public Television, Lynn University, and Baltimore’s Hippodrome Foundation, among others.

Born in Baltimore, Homer Gudelsky was president and CEO of the family’s aggregate businesses in the Washington, D.C area. The Gudelskys purchased vast tracts of land in the Maryland and Virginia suburbs, some of which was developed into the new city of Columbia, Md. and the Tysons Corner Center, Va. Homer and his wife, Martha, established The Homer & Martha Gudelsky Family Foundation, Inc. in 1968 in Silver Spring to contribute to charitable programs devoted to improving health, education, the arts and the community.

Locally, the Gudelsky family developed much of the waterfront in West Ocean City, including Sunset Marina, the Ocean City Fishing Center and Martha’s Landing. They also donated land for Homer Gudelsky Park, commonly known as Stinky Beach, for public use in West Ocean City.

Founded in 1980, Coastal Hospice is a nonprofit health care organization that cares for individuals facing life-limiting conditions but who want to remain as active and engaged as possible. Coastal Hospice cares for patients in their home, nursing home, assisted living facility or at Coastal Hospice at the Lake. The organization serves Wicomico, Worcester, Dorchester and Somerset counties.