The Thanet Sunrise Rotary Club’s generous £1,000 donation comes at a time when Pilgrims Hospices really needs the support of the community of east Kent. The money has been raised through the annual community ‘Rotary Big Knit’.
Caroline Winzer from Thanet Sunrise Rotary Club said: “Each year Thanet Sunrise Rotary Club organise a very special community event; the ‘Rotary Big Knit’ which takes place in April raising thousands of pounds in just one afternoon and attended by over 150 knitters.
“Four charities are nominated each year to benefit from this one event and Pilgrims Hospice, Thanet had been one of those charities this year.
“The Club were devastated to cancel the event due to the COVID-19 crisis, but a small handful of knitters still donated or knitted in isolation and collected almost £1000.
“This generosity together with other funds already raised during the previous months enabled the club to still donate £1000. Thanet Sunrise Rotary Club meet weekly for breakfast and are pictured here at their Christmas breakfast meeting” (photo taken prior to the Covid 19 outbreak in the UK).
Karen Kenward, Community Fundraising Manager for Pilgrims Hospice Thanet said: “Our charity is facing challenging times during the COVID-19 outbreak; the Rotary Club’s very generous donation of £1,000 couldn’t have come at a better time. The past few months have been unexpectedly difficult for Pilgrims Hospices, despite this our vital work has not stopped and we still continue to provide compassionate care and support at our hospices and in the community to ensure our patients, their families and our staff are all remaining safe.”
Pilgrims has launched the Still Here; Still Caring Appeal, where the local community and businesses are making donations to support the hospices whilst the normal fundraising activities are postponed. www.pilgrimshospices.org/still-caring
In order to keep the core of event supporters interested during these difficult times, the fundraising team has launched a new virtual campaign called #StayHomeHospiceHero. This is helping our team remain engaged with our wonderful local community and offers opportunities to continue to help us from home, such as a virtual hike around the Isle of Wight in July and a Virtual Pet Show.
Karen continued: “Our care team has developed and implemented lots of change to adapt and respond to our patients needs during lockdown, they continue to deliver end-of-life services both within our inpatient units and in the community by telephone and online facilities.”
If you would like to take on a challenge in support of our charity, please contact Karen Kenward call 01843 233934 or email: [email protected] or look at Pilgrims new virtual site for ideas.
We need you more than ever, thank you.
Each year Pilgrims Hospices give care and comfort to over 2,500 people in east Kent coming to terms with an illness that sadly cannot be cured. The charity supports patient’s to live life as well as possible until the very end, free from pain and distress.
27th April 2020
The Rotary Club of Thanet support Pilgrims Hospices
The Rotary Club of Thanet are unable to meet at the Royal Temple Yacht Club for their regular Monday evenings, during the coronavirus lockdown. They have generously donated their weekly meal money to local charities who are being affected within the community.
Neal Elliott from the Rotary Club said: “We are donating £1,000 to Pilgrims Hospices who are short of funds due to the current crisis, along with donations to other charities.”
Karen Kenward, Community Fundraising Manager said: “With the charity facing challenging times, together with everyone in the UK due to the COVID-19 outbreak this generous donation of £1,000 couldn’t have come at a better time.
“The past few weeks have been unexpectedly difficult for Pilgrims Hospices. Sadly, we recently had to ask most of our incredible 1,500 volunteers to stay safely at home, close our shops, cancel or postpone many of our fundraising activities.
“Despite this, our vital work has not stopped. We still continue to provide compassionate care and support at our hospices and in the community to ensure our patients, their families and our staff are all remaining safe.
The charity has developed and implemented lots of changes to adapt and respond at this time for the community that needs its services. It has been creative about how it can continue to deliver services both within its inpatient units and to those it cares for and supports in the community by telephone and online facilities.
It costs £14 million per year to run the full range of Pilgrims clinical services. To do this, the charity relies heavily on the support and generosity of the local community. It has to raise 80% of the £14 million and these costs are generated through fundraising and donations. The coming months will be an extremely challenging time for Pilgrims and it remains positive, creative and innovative to aim to be there for the next family that needs its clinical care.
Karen added: “I would like to personally thank each and every one of you for thinking of Pilgrims Hospices in such difficult times; we are so very humbled and grateful.”
Please note: All photos featured were taken before the COVID-19 pandemic.
There are so many ways you can continue to support Pilgrims, even from your homes. Visit the Pilgrims website for some virtual challenges and become a #StayHomeHospiceHero, helping to make a difference from your home.
We need you more than ever; our local community means everything to us.
Thank you.
Each year Pilgrims Hospices give care and comfort to over 2,400 people in east Kent, who are coming to terms with an illness that sadly cannot be cured. The charity supports patients to live life as well as possible until the very end, free from pain and distress.
