The Western Group of Motoring Writers chose Julia’s House, serving Dorset and Wiltshire, as one of the recipients of its charitable donations this year…
Report by Kim Henson.
As a result of its fund-raising efforts during 2015, the Western Group of Motoring Writers (of which I have been proud to be a member over the last 10 years) chose Julia’s House, a Poole-based organisation, as the recipient of one of its charitable donations. (The Western Group has raised many thousands of pounds for various charities, over the last three decades).
Julia’s House is the only children’s hospice in Dorset and Wiltshire, dedicated to assisting children and their families when they are going through very difficult times, having found out that a child has a very serious medical condition which is life-limiting or life-threatening.
Of course, a child who is unwell is a worry for any parent, but when advised that there is no cure for a complex medical condition/illness that will require constant 24 hour care, the news is devastating.
Julia’s House provides the following services in Dorset: Community care, hospice respite care, family and sibling support, also end of life and bereavement care.
The charity decided to expand their operations into Wiltshire, as in that county there was no community care, no children’s hospice or indeed any frequent respite care available in any neighbouring county’s hospice building. It is estimated that there are at least 250 Wiltshire families who could benefit from the organisation’s support of frequent respite, both at home and in their hospice.
They have been offering community care in Wiltshire since 2014, and their community support hours in the county have increased by 103.5 per cent from 2014 to 2015.
Full planning permission has recently been granted for Julia’s House new hospice in Devizes, and it is expected that this will be ready for operation by mid-2017.
The Western Group of Motoring Writers has been pleased to hand over £500 to the charity to help it in its worthy efforts (almost all of its income is from donations, plus just a tiny proportion of ‘official’ funding).
Jacqui Greenhaf, Community Fundraising Manager for Julia’s House, said, “The £500 that the Western Group has raised will have a significant impact on the lives of the families we support, and is enough to provide 17 of our nurses or carers with a community care kit to use when providing care at home. Each kit contains protective safety equipment, First Aid and emergency care for each visit to a child’s home”.
For more information about the charity, please go to: www.juliashouse.org