FACES & PLACES
ART & HISTORY
SEPTEMBER 2007

Serenity House CD
By: Megan Wetzel

Serenity House and Hospice Support of Doylestown, Inc, founded by Nina McKissock, R.N., is a volunteer organization that offers free physical, emotiona,l and spiritual support to incurably ill members of our community and to those who love them. Well-trained compassionate volunteers provide non-medical care to those at the end of life. Bereavement counseling and financial services are also available.

As a person nears death, his or her senses tend to diminish. However, hearing is generally the last sense to diminish when someone is at the end of life. Listening to music from one's lifetime can offer much needed comfort and joy to the patient as well as the caregivers.

To help raise funds for Serenity House, Kevin Mackie of East Coast Recording brought together a group of musicians who volunteered their time and talent to creating a beautiful CD, appropriately entitled “Serenity House.” Kevin is a strong believer that music touches the heart and soul, which is visible in everything he is involved with. Though this project has taken its own form of magnitude, Kevin has had other projects in the past. In 1998, he put together a CD called Enviro-Aid. “This was a compilation CD to benefit the environment. Speaking for myself, wanting to make a difference gives me the energy to strive for goals that seem unattainable.” Of his involvement with Serenity House, Kevin states, “It takes a lot of time away from my family and I am very tired, but it gives me great pleasure to know I'm making a difference”.

“ Serenity House” includes an impressive list of artists who donated songs to the album - ASIA, Ian Anderson (Jethro Tull), Annie Haslam (Renaissance), Pat DiNizio (The Smithereens), Robert Hazard, Kathy Sledge (Sister Sledge), Think Of 3, The Luck Brothers, Jann Klose, Sterling Koch (V.I.H.), Dave Renz with Bob Miles and Steve Pullara. Annie Haslam also painted the original artwork "Serenity House" for the CD cover, and designed the CD package with graphic designer Krista Wallhagen. Doylestown, PA. The CD production was made possible through caring donations from sponsors: Shop Rite of Warminster (owned and operated by the Brown Family) and The Albin Family Foundation. All profits from the compilation CD will go directly into hospice support and the building of a hospice residence.

The CD, “Serenity House” will be released on September 6th, 2007. There will be a CD release party hosted by Grover Silcox, a television personality at WLVT PBS 39 (Tempo TV magazine). The party will be held at the Puck, 1 Printers Alley, in Doylestown, PA. For more information on the release party go to www.pucklive.com. You can purchase the CD at www.myspace.com/serenityhousecd.