St Richard’s Hospice in Worcester has received a grant of £2,530 from the Provincial Grand Lodge of Worcestershire Freemasons.
The grant which was presented at the Worcestershire Installed Masters Lodge No 6889 comes through the Masonic Charitable Foundation, and will be used to help the hospice care for patients with life-limiting illness and support for their loved ones.
This is just one of 245 grants to hospices around the country from Freemasons. In total £600,000 will be donated to hospices all over England and Wales this year. This includes £450,000 which will be distributed to each hospice that receives less than 65per cent funding from the NHS. A further £150,000 will be provided to the national charity for hospice care, Hospice UK, in a pilot partnership aimed at developing and extending bereavement support services in hospices.
Contributions from Freemasons to hospices have exceeded £12 million in England and Wales since 1984 and are continuing to increase at a rate of £600,000 a year.
Tricia Cavell, St Richard’s Fundraising Director said, “This generous grant is hugely appreciated as is the on-going support of Freemasons in the county.”
St Richard’s Hospice provides free specialist palliative and end of life care for patients living with life-limiting illnesses and supports their loved ones. Each year the hospice team supports more than 3,000 patients, family members and bereaved people in Worcestershire.
The hospice strives to provide the best medical, practical, emotional and social support they can to help people live life to the fullest, as independently as they can, for as long as they can. They care for people with a range of illnesses including heart failure, Parkinson’s, and motor neurone disease as well as cancer.
St Richard’s is an independent charity and is grateful for all donations to help it continue its work.
Caption: St Richard’s Hospice Chief Executive June Patel accepts a donation from R. W. Bro. Robert Vaughan, Provincial Grand Master