• Community Hospice of Northeast Florida will open a new facility, the Anne and Donald McGraw Center for Caring, Saturday with a ceremony and open house. The event will begin at 10 a.m. and conclude at 2 p.m. at 4715 Worrall Way on the Mayo Clinic campus. The 16-bed, 23,000 square-foot inpatient center was built to meet the needs of Community Hospice patients in south Jacksonville, the Beaches and northeastern St. Johns County. For information, visit www.communityhospice.com.
• The Museum Shop at the Museum of Contemporary Art Jacksonville is hosting its Holiday Open House Weekend this Saturday and Sunday. Hours on Saturday are 10 a.m.-4 p.m. and Sunday noon-4 p.m. New arrivals will be on the shelves.
• Downtown Vision, Inc. has created another new way to learn about the urban core and enjoy the pedestrian experience. The organization will host a tour of historic churches Dec. 8 from 1-5 p.m. Seven historically and architecturally significant houses of worship, all built before 1925, will be open for guided tours. Churches on the tour include include First Baptist, First Presbyterian, First United Methodist, Historic Mt. Zion AME, Immaculate Conception Catholic, St. Phillip’s Episcopal and St. John’s Episcopal Cathedral. The tour will begin and end at the Main Library where the Junior League’s annual Festival of Trees will be on display. Tickets are $5 per person. For information, visit www.downtownjacksonville.org or call 451-3344.
• Two new trustees, Sally Baldwin and Morris Applewhite joined the Board at the Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens. They will serve on the board through September 2012.
• The Jacksonville Children’s Chorus will be joined by the Douglas Anderson School of the Arts Women’s Chorale and the Jacksonville University Choir for a performance Tuesday at 7 p.m. at the Terry Concert Hall on the JU campus. The program, “A Community in Song” will feature guest soloist Dr. Ysaye Barnwell. General admission is $20 per person. For tickets or information, call 346-1636.
• “Jacksonville Day” in Tallahassee is Jan. 24 in order to coincide with committee week before the regular session of the State Legislature begins. The idea is to allow City officials and the Jacksonville Regional Chamber of Commerce Government Affairs Committee the opportunity to let the legislators know ahead of time the interests in the community. The day will center around a lunch with House and Senate leadership with remarks from the Duval County Legislative Delegation.
“I would rather be kept alive in the efficient if cold altruism of a large hospital than expire in a gush of warm sympathy in a small one.”
– Aneurin Bevan, British Labour politician.