As part of the Birkett Long £50 challenge, a fundraising initiative for St Helena, the St Helena medical team raised £2406 to go towards the hospice.
The St Helena medical team is the team of doctors and Advanced Nurse Practitioners at the hospice, working both at the Hospice in Colchester and in the community across North East Essex in order to improve the symptoms of those who are reaching the end of their lives, performing a vital role for the organisation as a whole.
In the £50 challenge, teams are given a starting £50 and then use this money to make as much as possible: providing valuable funding and community engagement.
To raise money the team hosted a number of events, including: a curry night, quiz night and a raffle – with all team members working to bring the fundraising effort together.
For their efforts the team were given the ‘Bold, passionate and caring award’ a new award introduced this year for those who uphold the hospice values.
Mark Jarman-Howe, CEO at St Helena, said the £50 challenge is “absolutely vital to the care we give to our patients and is a great way to engage with the community”
The team’s curry night, held at the St Helena education centre, included Indian dancing; authentic Indian food cooked by friends of a team member and all with ingredients purchased with the starting £50.
According to Josh Wilkins, a member of the medical team, the money raised will go towards all aspects of the hospice’s operation – allowing it to fulfil its mission of supporting people facing incurable illness and bereavement and providing services to both patients and the people close to them.
Josh added that this fundraising is important as “only 20% of our funding is given to us by the NHS, without all the fundraising the hospice couldn’t run”
