Houston (May 30, 2017) – Nora’s Home, Houston’s haven for organ failure and transplant patients receiving care in the Texas Medical Center, is proud to announce an expansion that will double the existing lodging capacity. A groundbreaking ceremony will be held at Nora’s Home located at 8300 El Rio St., Houston, TX on Friday, June 9 at 2 p.m. to celebrate the expansion, which will allow the home to provide an additional 10,800 lodging nights per year to organ transplant patients and their families.
The expansion will include 16 additional guest rooms, a communal kitchen with an area for cooking classes, laundry room, expanded storage space and administrative offices. Four of the family guest rooms will be built with strict immune suppressed protocol for post-lung transplant patients. A boardroom and education room will open up to each other to allow for expanded space for a Transplant Life Center. Although the additional family rooms in the expansion will not meet the housing needs of all the transplant patients in the Texas Medical Center, the expansion will substantially increase the number of families Nora’s Home can help.
“In the spirit of Nora Gaber’s extraordinary compassion, Nora’s Home has already touched the lives of thousands of transplant patients and their families across our state and nation. Nora’s Home is more than an impersonal temporary housing option, it is truly a home where patients and their families can find comfort, community, and healing from the physical, emotional and financial trials of organ transplantation,” states Kayla Lehmann, Executive Director of Nora’s Home. “The feedback we receive from our patients has reinforced our mission of taking a holistic approach to health and recovery by providing transplant patients and their families with more than just a place to lay their head.”
The groundbreaking ceremony will also include a raffle car presentation to the winner of Nora’s Home “Giving Back to the Future” gala raffle. Shane Duckworth of the Oklahoma Storm Chasers will receive the keys to a stainless steel 1981 DeLorean. Close to 1,000 supporters entered the raffle to win the sought after collectible automobile in support of the Nora’s Home facility and its programs.
The expansion has been designed by Landmark Architects and will be constructed by Satterfield & Pontikes Construction (S&P), a long-time partner of Nora’s Home and the builder of the existing facility.
Nora’s Home is dedicated to providing all patients and families in the Texas Medical Center with the necessary support and resources they require for a successful transplant. The home’s expansion will help fill the housing void and is currently the only hospitality-housing program in the Gulf Coast region to address the specific needs of transplant patients.
For additional information on Nora’s Home groundbreaking or naming opportunities, please contact Natalie Lencioni Raymer, Assistant Director of Nora’s Home, at 832- 831-3721 or email natalie.lencioni@norashome.org.