Charity benefits from fundraising efforts

By Mark Stevens
6/11/18

The well-being of patients and families who use Hospiscare has received a huge boost after the Exeter-based charity this week received a cheque to the tune of £100,000.

Earlier this year The Exeter Property Summer Ball and the Exeter Chiefs Foundation teamed together to offer a unique opportunity to a local project to assist in funding a capital project by means of a Legacy Project Grant.

The aim of the grant is to assist in funding an existing organisation’s project fund to help them achieve and complete a project that would help many for years to come and have a lasting legacy for those in and around the city.

Money raised at the Summer Ball was matched funded by the Exeter Chiefs Foundation towards their legacy project and at half-time during the Exeter Chiefs versus Bath match in the Premiership Rugby Cup, representatives from both organisations handed over the funds to Geoff Pringle (Chair of Trustees) and Julie Wakley (IPU Senior Nurse) at Hospiscare.

The Hospiscare charity was started by Dr John Searle in 1982 when he moved to Exeter and worked with the Bishop of Crediton to initiate a local hospice service. More than 400 people crowded into Exeter's Guildhall when a £350,000 public appeal was launched to establish a community-based nurse service covering six miles from the cathedral.

Since then, Hospiscare has expanded considerably, providing high quality care and support to people with a progressive life-limiting illness and those close to them living in Exeter, East and Mid Devon. Their expert team of doctors and nurses help from the day of diagnosis to the last days of life and currently have 160 staff and more than 1,000 volunteers.

Last year the charity - which costs £6.4m a year to provide a variety of services - cared for 2,225 patients, their families and loved ones. It also offered specialist advice and support every day of the year.