Volunteers needed to support local children's hospice shop

Thursday, 7 May 2015

Hebden Bridge's local children's hospice is calling on residents to show their support and volunteer in their Valley Road shop.

Forget Me Not Children's Hospice, located in Huddersfield, supports children with life shortening conditions and their families across Wakefield, Kirklees and Calderdale, including those in the Hebden Bridge area.

Donna Bean, Manager of the Hebden Bridge based Forget Me Not shop said, "Our shop has been a part of the local community here in Hebden Bridge for over three years now and the support we have received from the local public has been fantastic.

"We have recently found ourselves at a stage where we need more volunteers to support the running of our shop and would love to welcome so much needed people to our team."

Studies have shown that volunteering can benefit people both mentally and physically.

Forget Me Not Children's Hospice currently has over 300 volunteers supporting the charity across all areas including retail, fundraising, events and care.

Wendy Bentley, Volunteer Coordinator at the charity added, "Without the support of our volunteers we simply wouldn't be able to do what we do and that is provide support to local children and families who need our help.

"We are now caring for over 130 families and that number is only going to increase in the coming months and years so we need to be in a position where we have enough volunteers to help us meet this demand."
People can volunteer at the shop at a time which suits them, be it a couple of hours each week or a couple of days.

Forget Me Not Children's Hospice must raise £3.2million each year to continue supporting local families. The income generated from their shops goes towards helping the charity reach this figure every year.

If you would like to find out more about volunteering with Forget Me Not Children's Hospice visit their Hebden Bridge shop, Valley Road. For further enquiries please call 01484 411040.

 

More info

• Forget Me Not Children's Hospice supports more than 130 children and their families, across Calderdale, Kirklees and Wakefield, through its hospice at home service and state of the art hospice Russell House in Huddersfield.  
• HRH Princess Beatrice became Patron of the charity in July 2013.
• Forget Me Not Children's Hospice charity was founded more than 14 years ago as a result of the challenges faced by a local mum whose son, Russell, became very ill and needed hospice care. She was concerned at the lack of local support, and set about changing this. After years of fundraising Forget Me Not Children's Hospice began caring for local children and their families in 2010 through its hospice at home service.
• In December 2012, the Forget Me Not Children's Hospice opened the doors of its state of the art building – Russell House, to the families and children who use the charities services. Offering care within Russell House will from now on run side by side by with the Hospice at Home service.
• With just 4% of funding coming from the government the charity must raise over £3.2m each year to ensure it is able to give the children and families the support they need.
• There are more than 700 children and families in the Calderdale, Kirklees and Wakefield area who may need the care support from the Hospice at Home service or at the Hospice, Russell House. Forget Me Not Children's Hospice needs to build awareness to enable it to reach out to these families
• As part of the charity's care service we offer children's play, family support, bereavement support, sibling support and complementary therapy to all of our children and families
• A chain of 10 retail charity shops currently operate across Kirklees and Calderdale, serving local communities and raising funds for the Forget Me Not Children's Hospice – Lindley, Holmfirth – Stable Court, Holmfirth – Victoria Street, Heckmondwike, King Cross in Halifax, Brighouse, Huddersfield, Almondbury, Hebden Bridge and Golcar.