Celebrating Local Business Support at the Hospice 100 Event
(Photos Courtesy of Trevor Robinson)
On the 24th October in the Education Centre, the Local Engagement Team hosted an evening event to thank the members of the Hospice 100 Club.
The Hospice 100 club up was set up to attract 100 businesses to commit to raising £1000 a year for the hospice. The members attending were greeted to a wine and buffet reception sponsored by Marks & Spencer Upminster, where many were presented with their Membership Certificates by our trustee Anne Bender and Leanne Jackson from the Hospice at Home Team.
After the reception, we held a talk from excellent speakers. The first from, Hospice Ambassador Skip Atkins, who gave an insight into how the hospice was there for him and his wife at their time of need. This was followed by Richard Wintle from Arwin Cleaning Services, a Hospice 100 member, who went into detail about how Arwin raises the money for the Hospice and how over the last three years he’d raised £11,000. The third person to speak was the key note speaker of the evening Mike Brace CBE, DL. Mike is a former Paralympian who competed for Team GB at the winter Olympics despite being totally blind. Mike spoke about his time as an Olympian and then about his work as a social worker, a successful business owner, the head of many charities he set up and his time as the Chair of the British Paralympic Association, at a time when London was awarded the 2012 games. He spoke for 30 minutes and was truly inspirational, the audience could have listened to him for hours.
The Local Engagement Team announced on a big reveal that the collective efforts of the sixty Hospice 100 members have so far this year raised an impressive £61,000. The members were applauded for their great support and the closing speech by Anne Bender thanked them for their efforts and reiterated that we are looking to reach 100 members, therefore an appeal to the members to assist other businesses to join.
If you know of a business that would like to support and join the Hospice 100 club, please contact community@sfh.org.uk
