Hope House to hire two new staff thanks to grant
Hope House Children's Hospice has accessed funds to help create two new jobs to expand its work into the community thanks to advice from a financial planning company.
The roles, which will help reach more children with life-limiting conditions, have been created thanks to a grant from the St. James’s Place Charitable Foundation.
Wrexham-based financial planners Hadlow Edwards Wealth Management Ltd introduced the Hope House and Tŷ Gobaith children’s hospices to the foundation leading to the successful application for more than £79,000 towards the costs of employing two Community Engagement roles for two years.
Hope House, which has two hospices in Oswestry and the Conwy Valley wanted to launch the scheme 10 years ago, following a successful pilot, but didn't have the money.
Thanks to the grant, the search has already begun for two new staff members, who are expected to be home-based.
Their role will be to raise the profile of the hospice within the community, to talk to community leaders, groups and individuals in a social setting in order to overcome the barriers some people face in accessing the service.
"Hadlow Edwards has broken down a door for us that we ourselves couldn't access. This funding has made all the difference in getting this new service up and running," said Andy Goldsmith, the CEO of Hope House Children Hospices.
"We are currently working with around 600 children and their families across Shropshire, Cheshire, Mid and North Wales. But on average, children's hospices reach just 16 per cent of the children with life-limiting conditions. We want to help more families and we need to encourage communities to work with us to do that.
"There's also a geographical issue for some. Many of the families are managing on benefits. They're living in poverty and feeling very isolated," he added.
"The covid pandemic has exacerbated that sense of isolation, making the need for community support even more important."
Warren Hadlow, Founder and Director of Hadlow Edwards, which has raised funding for the hospice charity in the past said: "Money for the Foundation is raised through payroll giving and a wide range of activities.
"We began working with Hope House Children’s Hospices more than 10 years ago. We'd raised money for smaller projects, but we'd never gone to the Foundation Board before and I thought the time was right to put forward the bid for a grant to fund the brilliant work of the Hope House and Tŷ Gobaith hospices.
