Stewarts will support Shooting Star Children’s Hospices and Forget Me Not Children’s Hospice as our Charities of the Year 2020.

Forget Me Not based in West Yorkshire, and Shooting Star Children’s Hospices based in Surrey, provide hospice services for children with life-limiting conditions, and support for their families.

Staff were asked to nominate a charity to support during 2020, and a shortlist was drawn up from these nominations. Ultimately, two charities received the most votes this year and Shooting Star Children’s Hospices and Forget Me Not Children’s Hospices were chosen to benefit from a grant given by The Stewarts Foundation.

In January 2020, representatives from both charities came in to speak to staff about the work they do and how staff members can get involved in helping to raise awareness of the issues, raising money for the charities and giving up their time to volunteer.

John Cahill, Managing Partner and chairman of The Stewarts Foundation commented:

“This year, Stewarts staff have nominated two children’s hospice charities based locally to our office locations as their 2020 Charity of the Year.

I am delighted that the Stewarts Foundation is able to support these children’s charities who, working alongside the NHS, provide a much needed resource and compassion to those in dire need within our local communities.”

Alex Rennie, Corporate Relationship Manager at Shooting Star Children’s Hospices comments:

“Our corporate partners are a lifeline for Shooting Star Children’s Hospices. As demand for our services continues to grow, with referrals increasing by 38% in the last year alone and just 10% of income coming from government funding, we heavily rely on fundraising activities and donations. We are absolutely delighted to have been nominated as Charity of the Year at Stewarts. Their support means we can continue to provide the vital care so desperately needed by families and make every moment count.”

Jess Lees, Partnerships Executive at Forget Me Not Children’s Hospice comments:

“We are thrilled to be nominated as charity of the year by Stewarts. Our corporate partners are essential to our being able to raise the funds we need to continue to provide vital care and support to children and families across West Yorkshire. With less than 4% of the income we need coming from the government or NHS, our sustainability depends on partnerships like these – for which we are very grateful”

Shooting Star Children’s Hospices

Shooting Star Children’s Hospices cares for babies, children and young people with life-limiting conditions, and their families, throughout Surrey and across 15 boroughs of London.

Whether lives are measured in days, weeks, months or years, we are here to make every moment count. As a leading children’s hospice charity we support families from diagnosis to end of life and throughout bereavement with a range of nursing, practical, emotional and medical care.

Our bespoke support is free of charge to families and includes a named key worker, a comprehensive range of therapies and support groups for the whole family, specialist nursing care and short breaks at our two hospices (Shooting Star House in Hampton and Christopher’s in Guildford) or in the family home, symptom management, end-of-life care and bereavement support.

It costs £10 million a year to maintain our current level of care and just 10% of that income comes from government funding, so we rely on our supporters’ generosity to keep the service running. What’s more, we know there are many more families desperate for our vital support, so it’s crucial we raise more funds. To find out more, please visit their website here

Forget Me Not Children’s Hospice

Forget Me Not children’s hospice is a charity based in West Yorkshire which provides palliative care and assistance to children with life shortening conditions, as well as help and support for carers and families and those coping with life after the death of a child.

Forget Me Not is led by a specialist team of nurses and therapists based in a purpose built hospice in Huddersfield, from where they reach families across West Yorkshire through care at home services.

For seriously ill and disabled children we offer a wide range of services, from hydrotherapy to music therapy, play and craft therapy, respite care (day and night), emergency crisis care and symptom control. We never see any child as anything other than part of a whole family and so the whole family is supported with emotional support and counselling and dedicated support for brothers and sisters. We closely support those families preparing for the death of a child (through end-of-life care plans and magical memory-making) and afterwards (through our bereavement services).

Forget Me Not have a pioneering approach to care which begins right from pregnancy. For parents who faced with the shock of being told about a serious problem with their baby at a 20 week scan we can be there to help families through difficult decisions and start coming to terms with a different future. For those babies who pass away before, during or after birth we offer families support and care, as well as use of the Snowflake Suite where families can stay with their baby for as long as they need, often up until the funeral. After a baby dies we provide comprehensive bereavement support. Baby death affects thousands of families every year across the country but the kind of help we provide is not available to many. With more help we can reach more families.  To find out more please visit their website here

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