Cash boost for Hospice
Plus pre-loved Donations restarts!
St Michael’s Hospice, providing free-of-charge specialist palliative care and support to patients and their families throughout Hastings and Rother, is heavily dependent on the generosity of local individuals, companies, groups and trusts.
With the constant need for funds to cover running costs and invest in its services, the hospice greatly appreciates the recent grant of £5,750 from the Morrisons Foundation. The much-needed funds will enable the hospice to purchase a new specialist bed for the In-Patient Unit that will offer highly upgraded comfort, support and treatment to their patients.
Adrian Horsley, Morrisons Foundation Advisor, expressed his pleasure at being able to help the hospice saying: “Supporting charities in our local communities is at the heart of what the Foundation is all about.”
However, the Hospice requires funding of about £12,000 a day just to keep going and some of this funding has dried up due to Covid. One important source of funding is happily now back on stream with the reopening of the Donation Centre on Queensway and shops in Bexhill on Sea, Battle and Hastings.
The Hospice has made significant changes to their way of working to keep employees, volunteers and donors safe. Head of Retail and Business Development, Rose Bedford, says they are now asking donors to book an appointment in advance of bringing donations: a time slot is given to enable the team to manage the flow of traffic and people at the centre, as well as managing the quantity of donations received at any one time.
“We are limited as to how many volunteers and employees can be on site at any one time and government guidelines regarding social distancing must be followed, says Rose. “This has a significant impact on how quickly the team can sort through the donations. Donations also have to be quarantined for up to 72 hours, which takes up extra space until they can be sorted.
“This new process at the Donations Centre means we have stopped accepting donations in our shops at the moment,” says Rose, “we do not have capacity in the shops to quarantine donations, whilst keeping on top of the sorting process.”
And a final word on donations. Please do not leave them outside the shops as these have to be disposed of at the expense of the hospice.
• Charities wishing to apply for a grant from Morrisons should visit morrisonsfoundation.com
• To make an appointment for donations at St Michael’s Hospice shops go to stmichaelshospice.com and click on ‘pre-loved donations’
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