Urgent appeal raises £100K in just a week!

We’re blown away by your response to our urgent appeal to fill £1million funding gap!

In the first week of the appeal we’ve raised an incredible £100,000 and received hundreds of messages of support including many from families we have helped over the past 13 years.

We launched the urgent appeal after announcing that we were £1million short of the funds we need to cover the cost of services in the current financial year. As a result of rising staff and energy costs, uncertainty over future statutory funding and a tough year for fundraising we’re also looking at ways to permanently reduce our annual running costs by 12% (£750,000) per year, sadly meaning some staff redundancies and changes to the ways care is delivered.

Our chief executive, Gareth Pierce said, “It’s been a fantastic response to our appeal. Everyone at Forget Me Not has been truly blown away by the kind words, offers of help and donations. Local people and local businesses have dug deep to support us, as they always do, raising £100,000 so far. That’s a lot of money in just a week but we’ve still got a long way to go to raise the £1million we need to save vital services. So we’re asking everyone to continue doing what they can to support us.

Our team have been so touched by the many stories families have shared through our social media, powerfully demonstrating how essential our support is for children and families in West Yorkshire.”

One father who has been at the forefront of the urgent appeal is Steve Lord, whose family has been supported by our children’s hospice since his son Ethan, 10, was diagnosed with adrenoleukodystrophy (ALD) two years ago. Ethan’s condition has left him unable to talk, walk or feed himself and he needs round the clock care. Ethan often comes to stay overnight at Russell House, where he enjoys respite care, hydrotherapy and music therapy while his family get a welcome chance to recharge their batteries.

Steve travelled to Westminster in November with Gareth Pierce to attend an All Party Parliamentary Group on children’s hospice funding.

Steve said, “That’s a great start – what amazing generosity people are showing! But we still have a long way to go to save vital services. If everyone who saw the news or one of the appeal posts on social media donated just £1 we could protect the services that families like ours so desperately need.”

Read many more statements of support from families on our Facebook page here  https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1QGveawvur/

Local MPs Harpreet Uppal (Huddersfield), Paul Davies (Colne Valley) and Kim Leadbeater MBE (Spen Valley) also released a statement of support, calling on Health Secretary Wes Streeting to “take urgent action to expand the National Children’s Hospice Grant and secure sustainable funding for hospices like Forget Me Not.”

See their statement in full here https://www.facebook.com/share/p/156RNrG99g/

Donations to the urgent appeal can be made here. More details on the financial crisis that we face can be found here.