St Mary’s Hospice has teamed up with Barrow Raiders to launch an exciting new fundraising appeal.
The Hospice looks after people in every town and village across Furness, South Lakes and all the way up the Duddon Valley to Millom.
It costs more than £3.5m to provide the services they deliver, with just 20% of that coming from the government. Now they’re launching a new campaign to ask local supporters to make an affordable monthly donation – the equivalent of a cup of coffee or pint of beer each week – to help with running costs.
They’ve teamed up with the Raiders to launch the appeal at their televised clash against York City Knights next Monday, with nursing staff from the Hospice accompanying the players onto the field ahead of the match.
Head of fundraising Helen Carlson said: “Barrow Raiders are just like us, rooted in the heart of the local community and loved by the public. They’re the perfect partners for us and we’re really grateful to Steve Neale and the board of directors for embracing this opportunity.
“Our nurses are out and about, helping people in every town and village across the region, and providing care for people with life limiting illness in their own homes, 365-days-a-year, as well as looking after over 100 patients a year from across the region at the Hospice itself in Ulverston.
“We believe there must be 500 local people who care enough about what we do to sign up and sponsor a nurse. We’re hoping that by launching the appeal in partnership with the Raiders, we’ll reach a new audience who might not know about what we do, or realise that our nurses provide things like the local hospice at home service.
“If you’ve had a relative or neighbour who has died at home, the chances are it’ll have been our staff who nursed them in their final days.”
St Mary’s Hospice’s Integrated Teams’ Sister Lauren McKenny said: “Patients and their families often call us heroes – of course we’d never call ourselves that, as we see it as an honour and privilege to be able to do the work we do, caring for people.
“To us, the real heroes will be the people who sign up as sponsors, because they’re providing the money that means we can go on providing the care in homes and to families right across Furness and South Lakes.”
Adele Neale, Barrow Raiders commercial manager, said: “We’re really looking forward to working with St Mary’s. It’ll be great to welcome the nursing team to the game on Monday night. We’ve made them our charity of the year and wish them every success with the ‘Sponsor a Nurse’ appeal.”
You can find more details on Sponsor a Nurse on the St Mary’s Hospice website – www.stmaryshospice.org.uk – and can sign up online in seconds.
For more information please contact Karl Connor:
- Tel: 01229 580305 or 07871024686
- Email: karl.connor@stmaryshospice.org.uk
About St Mary’s Hospice
St Mary’s Hospice provides free supportive and palliative care for people who are living with a life-shortening illness or long-term condition such as cancers, neurological conditions, respiratory and heart disease, and for their families, carers and loved ones.
Care is provided within the hospice, at home or in a community setting. Though all our care and services are free of charge to our community, they are not free to provide and that’s where we rely on your help.
It costs over £3.5m per year to run St Mary’s Hospice and our services. Approximately 18% of our funding is provided by the NHS, meaning that we rely on donations and fundraising to cover the rest. This is only possible through the support of our wonderful and generous community.
Buy your tickets for Monday’s home clash against York City Knights!