YOU DID IT, THANK YOU!

Thanks to YOU hospice care is secured for thousand of patients.

When EllenorLions Hospices launched their Emergency Appeal in December ’08 for £200,000 the target was challenging and the situation concerning.  Steve Hudd, Fundraising Director explains “we realised very quickly that donations were down as a result of the economic climate, we had to act fast as we simply couldn’t allow the recession to affect our patient care and so we launched our appeal” he continued “with the tremendous support of the media we secured coverage in local and national press, radio and TV, the result of which was overwhelming! We received messages of hope, encouragement and thanks – all of which urged us on even more to do all we could to keep our services at the high level patients and families expect and deserve.”

Local groups such as the Lions Clubs, Masons, Rotary Clubs and many more held events and bucket collections. Then there were the schools and companies that had dress down days, raffles and competitions. And then there were the individuals who sent in whatever they could, and the result - over £205,000. So what does this mean? “It means that we start a new financial year on 1^st April with a clean sheet. We have cut costs as much as we can without affecting our patients but it will cost £4.7 million to run all of our services for the full year.  We will need to raise most of this from fundraising activities and donations over the next twelve months;” explained Mr Hudd “we are extremely grateful to our supporters – and would urge them to continue to support us in any way they can.”

The charity cares for around 2,500 families every year, employs over 200 local people and is supported by over 800 volunteers.  Highly trained, skilled and caring staff provide the numerous services offered. These include nursing care both in the home and hospice, respite care – offering families a much needed break in the knowledge that their loved one is being cared for by professionals, complementary therapies, counselling and bereavement support.  All services are given free of charge to patients and their families and it has been possible to do this for over 20 years due to the generous support of the community.

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