Published on: Tuesday 15 Jan 2019 at 15:17
Our brand-new Donation Centre needs you, and your pre-loved goods!
This week, St Clare Hospice is opening a new Donation Centre at the Links Business Centre in Bishop’s Stortford, which will help us raise vital funds for future patient care. The Donation Centre will open its doors for donations from the public on Wednesday 23rd January 2019 at 8.00am.
Each year, St Clare receives more than 60,000 bags or boxes of donations, which are processed by our Retail volunteers. Until now, sorting through donations has been exclusive to St Clare shops alone; however, the launch of their our Donation Centre will ensure that we can make the most of each donation we receive.
St Clare’s nine charity shops provide the single largest revenue source for the hospice, and each of the shops rely on generosity from the local area. The launch of our Donation Centre will enable us to utilise more stock and get the right items out to the most suitable St Clare shop. This exciting development within the Hospice’s trading arm is therefore set to help raise even more in vital funding for St Clare.
The Donation Centre will also host occasional sale events throughout the year, where shoppers are invited to browse an eclectic selection of pre-loved homeware, clothing and other goods at discounted prices. The first of these events will take place at the Donation Centre on Saturday 26th January 2019, from 8.00am to 2.00pm. For more information on the Donation Centre Launch Sale event, please visit: stclarehospice.org.uk/event/donation-centre-launch-sale
Fiona Eaton, Head of Retail at St Clare Hospice, said:
“The majority of our shops don’t have a lot of space to store donated stock, so our new Donation Centre is a vital resource which enables us to keep more stock, get the right items out to the most suitable store, and to sell items directly from the centre. The Centre will also help us to take in a greater number of furniture donations so we can continue to expand our free Furniture Collection Service.”
It costs over £4 million each year to provide the our vital services (including clinical and support services) and, with limited NHS funding, the revenue raised by St Clare’s trading company is essential.
Fiona added:
“From donations to volunteers, the help we receive is vital to ensure St Clare Hospice can continue helping those affected by life-limiting illnesses to have the best quality of life possible.”
Volunteer at our Donation Centre
The new Donation Centre needs people to donate their time, as well as their goods. Volunteers are needed to help catalogue and sort donations and provide good customer service to people donating to the Centre. Around 24 volunteers are needed to help the Donation Centre provide an efficient service to its donors and the our nine charity shops located throughout West Essex and East Hertfordshire.
If you would like to volunteer your time to lend a hand in St Clare’s new Donation Centre, please visit our website at: stclarehospice.org.uk/volunteervacancies/distribution-centre-volunteer
Alternatively, please contact St Clare’s Voluntary Services Manager, Rob Wallace, on 01279 773722 or email rob.wallace@stclarehospice.org.uk
