Mary Stevens Hospice reaches £3m target after £35k donation
A hospice has reached its £3 million target for a new day unit to help cope with demand – the biggest fundraiser in its history.
Staff at the Mary Stevens Hospice in Stourbridge are celebrating after a generous £35,000 donation from long-time benefactor Mike Brown meant they could pay off the remaining money owed on the rebuild.
The fund was launched in June 2016, with building work starting as money flowed in.
The transformed unit features the latest technology and can accommodate up to 25 patients a day.
It also includes an apartment families can use when relatives are receiving care in the hospice’s residential in-patient unit.
The original 17-place department was opened in 1991 by Diana, Princess of Wales, and had been running at 100 per cent capacity.
Hospice chief executive Stevan Jackson said: “It has taken a huge effort in these difficult times by our fundraisers to raise the £3m needed and we cannot be more pleased that they have done so well.
"These new facilities will help us to do much more to meet the currently unmet needs of the thousands of people in our borough who, every year, are in desperate need of palliative care as they approach the end of their lives as a result of progressive, incurable, illness – and also their carers whom we support – often for years.”
Businessman Mr Brown, boss of Dreamland Bedding Centre in Brierley Hill, made a £23,000 donation towards the cost of building the relatives’ apartment and has pledged to furnish if for free.
He also gave £12,000 towards an education facility for hospice staff.
The training and education hub, the fourth and final stage of the hospice’s regeneration plan which started back in 2013, will offer regular courses and training programmes for healthcare professionals, teachers and care home workers to extend the hospice’s specialist training in care providing-facilities across the region.
Mr Brown, known affectionately in the town as Mike The Bed, has donated more than £150,000 over the years, partly due to a scheme that sees customers make donations instead of paying delivery fees.
The money has helped to fund new vans, a business apprenticeship and a peace room offering a quiet sanctuary for families and loved ones.
He said: "I consider it a privilege to be in a position where I can give back and help, particularly so close to Christmas, and the difference that both the family apartment and the on-site training centre will make is something I am very proud to have helped to create. This is a cause very close to my heart."
Hospice bosses plan to officially launch the new unit in January.
