Advent calendar collection
Since October Woking Funeral Service and James & Thomas Funeral Directors have had posters in their window asking the public to kindly donate Advent Calendars for Hascombe Ward, the paediatric ward at The Royal Surrey County Hospital.
On Thursday 28th November Funeral Arranger Louise Jarrett delivered 168 Advent Calendars to the children on the ward.
The volume of donations will also enable siblings of the children on the ward to receive a festive treat too.
Angela said: ‘As always, I felt extremely proud of what we had achieved and with the amount they received it meant that they could also share them out to the siblings of the children on the ward too. The staff were extremely overwhelmed and couldn’t thank us enough for our donations.’
Walker & Morrell Funeral Directors Advent calendar collection
Walker & Morrell delivered 180 advent calendars kindly donated by members of the public.
Thanks to the generosity of the local community the calendars were given to the residents of Donwell House Care Home in Donwell, Washington Manor Care Home and Concord and Laurel Avenue Food Bank in Durham.
Funeral Arranger Linda Locking said; ‘We must thank Madison Deli who donated six boxes of 18. We are truly overwhelmed with people’s generosity. We still have donations coming in.’
Linda and Area Development Manager Heather McBeth spent the morning at the Donwell House Coffee Morning meeting some of the residents who were so thankful for their gift, many had never had an advent calendar before thought it was amazing and so kind.
Foodbank collection
Wendy Tolley, Katie Freeman and David Evans from Roy Quinton’s Walsall branch collected donations of food during November for Walsall North Foodbank.
Opened in 2014, the foodbank served 943 three-day emergency food supplies to people in crisis last year.
Foodbanks rely on the goodwill and support of the local community. Over 90% of the food distributed by foodbanks in The Trussell Trust network is donated by the public. Food donations are absolutely vital to the foodbanks ability to give everyone who is referred a balanced and nutritious three day supply of food.
Donations to Walsall foodbank can be left at Pelsall Methodist Church during one of the open sessions, Tuesday 11.00 – 1.00pm or Friday 1.00 – 3.00pm. .
Alternatively, there is a permanent collection point at the Tesco store in Brownhills where you can donate items of food from your shopping.
Charity shopping event
On Sunday 1st December Funeral Arranger Emma Gibbons from the Alcester branch organised and hosted a successful charitable shopping event.
The event took place at Jubilee Fields, on St Faith’s Rd in Alcester and raised £125 for Refuge, a charity that supports women, children and men with a range of services, including refuges, independent advocacy, community outreach and culturally specific services.
Refuge believe that no-one should have to live in fear of violence and abuse. On any given day Refuge supports more than 6,000 clients, helping them rebuild their lives and overcome many different forms of violence and abuse.
The Christmas shopping event was an opportunity for local entrepreneurs to share their skills and products whilst raising awareness of an important issue affecting our communities.
Emma said: ‘I chose Refuge after reading about the amazing things they do for families suffering at the hands of domestic violence. They not only give them a safe place to stay, but also help with legal advice and much more- I am also aware of the growing number of domestic violence cases in the UK.’
Thank you to everyone who took part and supported the event, namely, Body shop with Tara, DG Crafts, Rustic Hart, Gingy’s bath therapy, Rainbow Sparkles, Forever living with Lydia, JC Lou’s fragrance, Pat Hemming sewing, Cresta Designs, The Soap Emporium, and many more.
Hamper
Funeral arranger Jan O’Donnell was in fine voice as part of the Affinity Choir who entertained the masses at a charity event.
Jan said: ‘I organised the raffle as well as singing with the choir who do an immense amount of work during the year for charity, we sing our little hearts out.’
Jan, on behalf of C & T Radmall donated a hamper for the raffle which raised over £485 and counting for Winston’s Wish and the Rockinghorse Children’s Charity.
Winston’s Wish is a childhood bereavement charity in the UK. The charity offers a wide range of practical support and guidance to bereaved children, their families and professionals. The charity currently supports 40,000 bereaved children and young people per year.
Rockinghorse is a Brighton-based charity that has been supporting children for over 50 years whose aim is to improve the lives of sick children throughout Sussex.
They are the official fundraising arm of the Royal Alexandra Children’s Hospital (the Alex) raising money for life-saving and cutting-edge medical equipment, while ensuring that children are treated in an environment better suited to their needs. The charity also support the Trevor Mann Baby Unit (TMBU) based at the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton and its sister site, the Special Care Baby Unit (SCBU) at the Princess Royal Hospital in Haywards Heath.
