MARQUETTE — With shovels in hand and cheers in the background, officials with the Trillium House broke ground Friday morning on an eight-room hospice house that will take a year to build.

The central U.P. does not have a hospice house. Donations in excess of $2 million will help fund the project.

The Trillium House will be designed to allow people in hospice, their loved ones and even their pets to stay at the same location.

“There are family members when they become ill, they are not able to go home, so this is going to be a great option for people to go into that Trillium House and be able to stay there,” said Sharon Fries, CEO of U.P. Home Health and Hospice.

“We have been looking forward to this for five years. We have awesome support in the community,” said Sue Kitti, CEO of Lake Superior Hospice. “Lake Superior Hospice will be providing care in Trillium House for the patients that live there.”

The Trillium House plans to provide the same care for patients as if they were staying at their own home. The organization says no one will be turned away for financial reasons.

Trillium House is still in need of about $200,000 in donations to ensure the organization will have no long-term debt.