New Beginnings with Hospice UK
20th September 2017
Hospice UK is our newest charity partner as chosen by our very own Joules teams. The whole team are excited to work with the charity and are looking forward to what the future holds. Hospice UK is a collection of hospices that provide support and care to individuals of all ages, whether it is patient care, counselling or family support groups, they are there to lend a helping hand. We had a catch up with the Hospice UK team to chat about new beginnings with Joules and Hospice UK.
What Hospice UK?
Hospice UK is the national charity for hospice care. We are a family of more than 200 hospices in the UK. Every year, we collectively care for 200,000 babies, children and adults, whilst also supporting their families too. Whatever your age, background or illness – we are here for you.
What is a hospice?
Hospices provide free, personalised care for people with a terminal illness. We believe that every moment in life matters – so we do all we can, from support and care for patients, to bereavement counselling and sibling support groups. We’ve even been known to organise a wedding or arrange a visit from the family pet. We bring life to days, when days are limited.
A hospice isn’t just a building. 159,000 patients are seen by our doctors, nurses and therapists in their own homes each year.
How excited are you to be partnering with Joules?
So excited! We are thrilled that Joules’ employees chose to support Hospice UK. It is incredible to be partnering with such a creative and quintessentially British brand. Local hospices are at the heart of the local community so your support is helping families near you. Together we can achieve extraordinary things.
I want to say a huge thank you for choosing to support Hospice UK. Joules’ support is going to make a big difference in enabling Hospice UK and your local hospice to ensure the best possible end of life care to thousands of patients, and support their families and loved ones too. We are working hard to make sure that everyone, no matter who they are or why they are dying or bereaved gets the care and support they need, where and when and how they want it. I look forward to working with you.
Tracey Bleakley, Chief Executive of Hospice UK
How was the charity chosen?
It was a lovely surprise when Joules got in touch with us. It was actually the Joules stores, the JDC and HQ teams who chose Hospice UK as their new charity partner.
How will the Joules partnership impact Hospice UK?
We know that hospice care can transform people’s lives. However, one in four families in the UK who need hospice care still can’t get or access it. That means more than 100,000 people every year are missing out on our support. Joules’ support will help us realise our new strategy – to make sure that hospice care is there for everyone in need.
A partnership with Joules will provide vital funds to help end inequality in care and make sure that hospice care can reach everyone. As well as this, we hope that Joules will be able to enable our network of retail shops to maximise their income through the sharing of retail expertise.
Our 2,500 hospice shops rely on public donations. St Ann’s Hospice in Greater Manchester can claim the most unusual donation – an antique birthing stool!
Sadie’s Story:
Julia’s daughter Sadie, 24, died of ovarian cancer aged 24 after being cared for by St Christopher’s – hospices are there for patients of all ages.
“At one point we were told that Sadie had three weeks to live. Her boyfriend, Jason, who she had met at university, proposed.”
“Sadie walked down the aisle thanking everyone for coming and by the time she got to the registrar Sadie said she couldn’t start yet as her face was hurting from smiling so much! Sadie said she never knew that level of happiness was possible.
“Phillipa, from St Christopher’s, was amazing and devoted the whole day to Sadie. She arrived early in the morning to remove all evidence of cancer treatment that she could from Sadie’s body. Just before Sadie entered the ceremony, Phillipa injected her to give her a boost and she enabled Sadie to walk down the aisle without her syringe driver and nasal tube. She also kept her topped up with pain relief, steroids and anti-sickness medicine all day and even offered to visit Sadie and Jason in the middle of their wedding night – just in case.” Find out more here.
Future plans with Joules…
Creating prints, potentially using our vibrant sunflower logo, to use on your products, with a percentage of profits being donated to Hospice UK.
Sharing your retail knowledge at our annual retail conference designed to develop knowledge and good practice among hospice shops.
Sharing your retail knowledge in practice. We can give Joules’ staff the opportunity to use their volunteering day to share their skills with their local hospice shop.
We also want to be there for Joules’ staff. Everyone will experience bereavement at some point in their lifetime and we want to help their staff by informing them about what help is available to them.
Would you like to offer your support to our fantastic charities? Visit our Virgin Money Giving page or head into store to see what’s going on. Keep up to date with our efforts by using #JoulesCharityWeek
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