An emergency capital appeal launched in April by Birmingham St Mary’s Hospice has reached an incredible £200,000 thanks to support from the local community.
The Selly Oak based charity launched their Raise the Roof appeal this spring after their annual buildings survey showed that due to bad weather, damage to the roof of their Inpatient Unit and other areas of the Hospice was beyond repair.
Katy O’Sullivan, Head of Fundraising Partnerships and Supporter Experience said “The Hospice Inpatient Unit was built in the late 1970’s, it was never intended to last this long and so now, when the weather is particularly bad, our clinicians have become used to putting out the odd bucket in stairwells and corridors to catch the drips.
“So far this hasn’t affected any of our patient or family areas, and there has been no negative impact on the exceptional care that our clinical teams provide, but if we don’t have a new roof in place by this winter, we may have to close some patient bedrooms.”
Birmingham St Mary’s Hospice provides care and support to people living with life limiting illness and their families across Birmingham and Sandwell. It costs £8.1m every year to provide its services free of charge to those who need them, with over 60% of this coming from voluntary donations. Throughout the pandemic the charity has seen the cancellation of all mass participation events, as well as the closure of its network of 16 charity shops across the city and the surrounding areas.
The new roof will cost £13.50 per square foot, totalling £260,000, a sudden huge cost that puts a strain on the charities finances.
Katy added “It’s the worst possible timing, just as we’re coming out of a pandemic, but we have been completely overwhelmed by the response of our local community who’ve once again gone above and beyond and have so far donated an incredible £200,000.
“We’re so very grateful of the support that we’ve received so far, and want to thank each and every person that has made a contribution to the appeal. We’re so close to our target now, we have £60,000 left to raise and so we’re asking for the help of our community to make one last big push to ensure that we can continue to be there for those who need our care, and their families, when they need us most.”
To support the campaign visit: birminghamhospice.org.uk/raisetheroof
