Katharine House Hospice

There are so many fantastic festive fundraising events being organised by our brilliant supporters during December, and we wanted to share this super story from seven-year-old twins Zachary and Jayden. 🤩 Having previously taken part in a sponsored litter pick to thank the hospice for caring for their Great Grandma, the boys came up with another wheely good fundraising idea: a sponsored Santa scoot! 👏 Mum Katie told us: "Zachary and Jayden had the most amazing time. We decorated their scooters with some tinsel and lights and made a make shift Santa sack (backpack) which Jayden carried, with Christmas music playing. "Members of the public waved, tooted, flashed their lights and donated to the boys’ JustGiving page as they saw them on their way round the town. We stopped halfway for a hot chocolate and cake, then continued the scoot. They managed 5.75km on their scooters and absolutely smashed their original target of £100 and are currently on £573!" Zachary told us: " I enjoyed it so much, I had so much fun and thought about Great Grandma." And Jayden continued: "I really enjoyed the scoot, I thought of Great Grandma all the way round, and I was amazed by all the lovely donations. Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas." ❤️ Thank you Zachary and Jayden for helping to raise so much money so we can take special care of other people, just like your Great Grandma. You are most definitely on Santa's good list! 🎅

Meet Vera! 👋 She's been attending our Living Well sessions on a Thursday for the past nine months, all thanks to one of our volunteer drivers. 🚗 Vera told us: “Being able to attend Living Well means that I have company and can do interesting things. My husband used to say that when I came back from a session that I was like a different person.” ❤️ Living Well is such a special part of what we're able to offer at the hospice, and often patients struggle with transport and miss sessions. We're looking for new volunteer drivers so that patients don't have to worry about transport to the hospice for these sessions or medical appointments. Can you help? Or do you know someone who might be perfect for the role? You'll need to have a full and clean driving licence and be able to help someone in and out of the car if needed. Training will be provided, but most of all you need to be friendly and able to put our patients at ease as they travel with you. 😊 Please get in touch if you can help! You can find details of what the role involves and how to apply here: https://lnkd.in/e28iJVTK

It's back and it just keeps growing! Our Tree-cycle scheme is returning with even more collection areas. 🌲Last year, we collected and chipped 274 tree – and we'd love to be able to beat our total! A big thank you to Beyond Carbon, who are very kindly sponsoring our Tree-cycle scheme to help us cover our costs. Here's a lovely festive pic of the Beyond Carbon team, complete with adorable dog! 🐕 Take a look to see if we're collecting in your area and book your tree in here: https://lnkd.in/e7T2kASh

There’s just one more sleep until the incredible Banbury Christmas Tractor Run for Katharine House! 🤩🙌🚜❤️ We can’t wait for the festive fleet as they make their merry way around Banbury and local villages. ⚠️ IMPORTANT DETAILS BELOW! ⚠️ Our fundraising team has been busy working with lots of our fabulous volunteers to make sure that we have plenty of collectors and stewards to support the event and make it safe. Last year, the Tractor Run raised nearly £50,000 for the hospice, and we’d love it if we could raise even more this year. 😍 We will have our official Katharine House collectors at locations on the Tractor Run route. Please check to make sure that you are donating to an official Katharine House volunteer with our branded hi-vis jackets and buckets/tins. We know that not everyone carries cash – so you can show some love for the tractors and help raise money for our hospice in the following ways... 💻 You can make a donation on the Tractor Run JustGiving page here: https://lnkd.in/ecX829gi 📱 Or you can text to donate by texting TRACTORLIGHTS followed a space then your donation amount to 70085 to give that amount. For example, write TRACTORLIGHTS 5 to donate £5 or TRACTORLIGHTS 10 to donate £10 to Katharine House Hospice, and then text the message to 70085. Each text will cost the donation amount plus one standard network rate message. Are you planning to join the fun? Don’t forget to take a look on our website for details of viewing spots, timings and some important safety guidance. www.khh.org.uk/tractor But don’t worry if you can’t make it! Join the fun on our Katharine House Facebook page, where we will live stream the tractors as they arrive at Banbury Cross, at approximately 6.15pm. See you there! 🤩

We have an fantastic range of Christmas cards available in our shops and our eBay store. But if you haven't already bought your cards and are worried you've left it a bit late, then our Katharine House Christmas e-card could be the solution! 💡📨 It's a brilliant and sustainable way to spread some Christmas cheer! 💚 Why not donate the cost of your cards and stamps to Katharine House and help raise some money for our hospice too? Win-win! 🥰 www.khh.org.uk/e-cards

Our Big Give Christmas Challenge has now finished, and we want to say the BIGGEST thank you from everyone at Katharine House. 🤩 In just one week, you helped us raise an absolutely incredible £42,463 for the hospice. What a community! 🙌 That money will help us to provide care and support for people with life-limiting illnesses from the point of diagnosis onwards. We want to continue making every moment matter for our patients and families – and your donations help make that possible. We also want to thank everyone who helped make the Big Give campaign happen. Firstly, three cheers for all the patients, family members and staff who took part in our Big Give videos – especially to David, Minnie and our Ward Sister Gemma. Your passion for Katharine House has helped us show why the hospice is so special. We’d also like to thank Phil Stanley Media for the brilliant work and creativity on all our Big Give video content. And last but not least, we want to thank the Big Give for enabling us to run the Christmas Challenge and The Reed Foundation, who provided match funding to double your donations. There’s certainly a lot to celebrate this Christmas – cheers! 🥂 #ChristmasChallenge #BigGive

Last week we welcomed hundreds of people to St Mary's Church for our annual Lights of Love event. It's always such a special evening, at a time of year that can be so difficult for people struggling with loss of a loved one. And although there is sadness there is also love, hope and togetherness. ❤️ Thank you to St Mary's Church for hosting us, and to everyone involved in putting on the service and making it such a special evening. And also a big thank you to everyone who came to join us and be part of the event. We hope that it brought comfort and an opportunity to pay tribute to someone special. Each of the star dedications have been brought back to the hospice and arranged on our tree in the chapel. ⭐

Our Big Give Christmas Challenge total stands at just over £41,000 – which is absolutely phenomenal. 🤩 In just 48 hours, you helped us smash our £35,000 target – but please don’t stop there! Even though your donation will no longer be doubled, you can still make a BIG difference and donate until midday tomorrow (Tuesday 10 December). 🙌 We’re struggling more than ever to raise the funds to continue running all our vital services. And your donations mean that we’re able to keep caring for you and your family when you need us the most. Our Head of fundraising Stephanie Lawless said: “Christmas is such a special time of year for so many. So we want to raise as much money as possible to support our incredible teams who look after our patients 24 hours a day over the Christmas period and beyond. "We can't thank everyone enough for supporting this initiative so far. It means the world to us and the people we care for." Watch our video and hear Katharine House nurse Gemma explain how we make Christmas special for our patients and families at the hospice and how your donation makes a difference. ❤️ https://lnkd.in/eBzRWWke

It wouldn't be Christmas without the trees! 🎄 Every year, we position a number of trees around the hospice grounds so patients can see one from their windows. ❤️ It's one of the ways we try and make our hospice feel like home. But we couldn't do it without help. We're so grateful to Nicholsons for providing our trees once again. 🙌 And to our maintenance volunteers Mike and Dave for braving the cold and getting the trees arranged. And a special shoutout to Mike's wife Barbara who makes us a stunning wreath for our front door every year. 🥰 Speaking of trees... Are you having a real tree this year? If so, why not get a task ticked off your to-do list and book it in for collection in January? ✅ Find out if we're collecting in your area here: https://lnkd.in/e7T2kASh

WOW! We can hardly believe it. 🤩 Since we launched our Big Give Christmas Challenge on Tuesday, you’ve already helped us EXCEED our £35,000 target!!! 🙌👏 We’re completely blown away by the support you’ve shown for us – and we’re proud to be part of such an amazing community! 🥰 We’ve now reached the limit of our match funding, but you can still donate to our Big Give campaign until Tuesday. Your generosity will help us to care for people like David and his family. ❤️ There’s still time to donate. Every penny makes a difference. https://lnkd.in/eBzRWWke #ChristmasChallenge #BigGive