Member Article

£1,000 fundraising boost for hospice

St Clare’s Hospice in Jarrow has been gifted £1,000 by a leading regional builder.

The cash injection from Persimmon Homes North East is made from the company’s Community Champions scheme, which is a pot of £24,000 to help fund and support local clubs, groups and good causes.

St Clare’s Hospice provides specialist palliative care for adults living South of the Tyne. They offer a range of services to patients and their families including physiotherapy, lymphoedema, complementary therapies, bereavement counselling, befriending services and day patient and in-patient care.

With the funding St Clare’s plan to redecorate four of its bedrooms to create a ‘home away from home’ for patients, so that they can feel as relaxed as possible.

Sonia Graham, a senior fundraiser at St Clare’s, said: “Little touches of colour can make such a difference to a room. Many of our in-patients spend most of their time in their bedroom so we like to make it a pleasant environment that does not feel like a hospital. Equally for the families that use our family bedroom, it is a place for them to have a rest and some space during a difficult time. We are so thankful to Persimmon for this donation.”

Debbie Zaben, sales and marketing director for Persimmon Homes North East, said the Community Champions scheme was a way of supporting people across every city, town and village where the company builds new homes.

She said: “We are delighted to support St Clare’s Hospice as we know that funding can be difficult to source, so it’s fantastic that we can offer financial assistance.

“We were very impressed with their application and the vital work they do to assist terminally ill patients and their families during such a difficult time.”

The Persimmon Community Champions scheme is a national programme where clubs, groups and good causes can apply for funding up to the value of £1,000 to match money they have already raised themselves. Nationwide the company will donate a total of £750,000.

Debbie said: “We’ve made it really simple to apply for funding, and we’re now urging people to apply for next month’s allocation by completing a form at www.persimmonhomes.com.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Lee Southen .