St Giles Hospice is calling on people to help make a real difference to the lives of local patients and their families in 2020 by volunteering at one of its charity shops.

By making a New Year’s resolution to get involved at one of the charity’s 31 shops or its distributioncentre in Shenstone, near Lichfield, volunteers can help the charity to reach the £10m it needs to raise each year to fund its services.

Every sale made at the hospice’s shops contributes towards hitting this total, which supports care for people living with a potentially incurable illness and their families.

Lynwen Truesdale, St Giles Head of Retail, said: “New Year is traditionally a time when people take stock of their lives and think about making meaningful changes for the year ahead, so if you would like to try something new and support the great work that St Giles does by volunteering in one of our hospice shops we’d be delighted to hear from you.

“We really could not care for so many patients and families without the generosity of all of the people who donate their free time to help us out.

“St Giles currently has around850 dedicated shop volunteers who make a real difference by giving us as much time as they can, but this can vary and our network of shops is expanding – in 2019 we opened a new store inBurntwood.”

Lynwen added that volunteering for the retail team at St Giles Hospice offered a wide range of other roles as well as serving customers in its network of shops.

She said: “We have a dedicated eBay department, distributioncentre, finance department, administration, bought goods department, bridal boutique, vintage department and an expanding furniture business.

“Whatever your interests, strengths and experiences, we have something to suit you - and volunteering offers a great way to boost job prospects by discovering new skills, gaining work experience and learning how to interact effectively with customers.”

Volunteering in the St Giles retail team was also a wonderful way to meet people and make new friends, Lynwen said.

“If you are interested in helping we have a range of shops across our catchment area, so you are never very far away from a convenient volunteering opportunity,” she added.

Anyone interested in volunteering at a St Giles Hospice shop can pop into their local shop, visit our website(https://www.stgileshospice.com/how-you-can-help-us/charity-shops/locations/) or contact shopsinfo@stgileshospiceshops.org.uk for further details.

For more information about St Giles and the care it provides, please visitwww.stgileshospice.com

ENDS

For further information or for any media enquiries please contact gary.young@stgileshospice.com or Gary Young on 07855 926123.

 

Notes to editors

St Giles Hospice is a registered charity offering high-quality specialist care free of charge for people living with diseases which may not be curable as well as providing support for their families and carers.

Patients come from across the hospice's catchment area, which ranges fromAshby-de-la-Zouch and Atherstone in the east, toCannock and Walsall in the west – and from Burton andUttoxeter in the north, to Sutton Coldfield and Coleshill in the south.

Care is offered at the hospice'scentres in Whittington, Sutton Coldfield,Walsall and in patients' own homes across the region.

St Giles spends over £10 million a year providing its specialist services and with little more than a third of this funded by the Government, the registered charity relies heavily on donations and income generation from the local community.