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Jeneece Edroff makes art in anticipation of Jeneece Place opening

Fundraising dynamo Edroff helps etch glass penny and winged pig that will hang in Jeneece Place near the Victoria General Hospital
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The stencil that will be used to carve the glass penny


A pig will fly at Jeneece Place on New Year's Day.

The oinker with angel wings will be part of an art installation that Jeneece Edroff worked furiously on this week with designers at

Silhouette Glass and Wood Designs in North Saanich.

At three, Edroff was diagnosed with neurofibromatosis which causes tumours to grow on nerve pathways anywhere in the body. In her case they are growing off almost every nerve root coming out from her spine. As a kid she became a poster child for Variety the Children's Charity and was named Vancouver Island's Penny Girl. More recently she lobbied and fundraised for Jeneece Place, adjacent to Victoria General Hospital. It will be a home away from home for children needing medical services in Greater Victoria.

Edroff, Rose Leonard and Alana Brownlee worked furiously this week on the artwork – a carved glass penny backed in copper mounted above the wooden winged pig – in hopes of installing it by Dec. 31.

"This is a very amazing project. I get to learn how to do different art pieces I never imagined you would do," said Edroff, taking a break from etching the glass penny. "I hope people remember how I've started ... just as a penny, but now I'm building houses and doing more in my life."

The artwork is meant to delight kids and adults, as well as remind guests at Jeneece Place of where the Victoria teen started, Leonard said.

"It's something that reminds them of how Jeneece started and maybe it won't end," she said, “so that donations will be able to carry on in the future."

When the Peninsula art company went out to source supplies, they were surprised to have most items donated.

"It was crazy," Leonard said. "All you had to say was Jeneece and they said here you go."

The big penny project is slated for a space in an alcove kitty-corner to reception at Jeneece Place.

Jeneece Place will be open year-round, 24-hours a day, and will be wheelchair accessible. It will have eight bedrooms with private bathrooms, a large communal kitchen, living room, dining room, entertainment and games room, laundry facilities and an outdoor playground. The 8,500 square foot home is a short walk from the hospital’s entrance.

Edroff launched the project in 2009 and it is slated to open in January.

Follow the progress online at www.silhouetteglass.com

reporter@peninsulanewsreview.com