Weed ‘em and weep
An elite team of fundraising colleagues from Medway Mail Centre were left grassy-eyed after taking on their latest charity challenge at Demelza House Children’s Hospice in Sittingbourne, Kent, on Friday 18 October.
Demelza provides specialist care and emotional support for children with terminal conditions and their loved ones, so they can enjoy time together as a family, for as long as they have.
The team were supported by late shift manager, Graham Jones and seven work placement students from Bradfields Academy in Chatham, Kent - an innovative special educational needs and disability (SEND) school for students with complex learning disabilities and difficulties including speech, language, emotional, sensory, physical and autistic spectrum disabilities.
The volunteers were tasked with weeding a huge area of the six acres of hospice gardens plus laying no less than nine tonnes of sand in preparation for a new pathway to the recently installed garden waste and composting area.
It was all sands on deck for the 15-strong team, who had a fantastic, but exhausting day, much to the delight of the Demelza House staff, who were amazed at just how much work was completed.
Flowering the team with praise, Medway charity and community champion, Tim Hyde, said: ‘Following our recent Wear it Pink Day, which raised nearly £3,000 for breast cancer care, this was another dimension to supporting those who are going through end of life treatments. This team are amazing!
‘We’ve not only raised more than £1,000 in the last 12 months for our local hospices, but we have also raised money for cancer awareness campaigns to try to help people who may be going through diagnosis and early treatment.
‘This is particularly relevant at Medway Mail Centre as a colleague has just been admitted to one of our local hospices. Our thoughts are with them and their family.’
