STAFF and volunteers at the Primrose Hospice have been overwhelmed by the support and kind-hearted gestures of the community which has rallied round to help them after thieves burgled their garden sheds.
We reported on our front page on August 19 about the incident between August 15 and 16 when £200 worth of gardening equipment taken.
And, after reading it in The Standard, supporters of the charity have banded together to donate items and cash.
One Redditch man Dan O’gorman, who runs Arrow Metal Redditch, gave the hospice a cheque for £300 at a special presentation was made last Wednesday (August 24) after reading about the shocking crime on our front page.
He visited the hospice, St Godwald’s Road in Bromsgrove, on Wednesday (August 24) to donate funds to the delight of chief executive Helen Briscoe, volunteer manager Jo Merrett and their team.
Mr O’gorman said: “My dad has volunteered with the hospice for over a year now and when I read about the burglary I called him right away.
“I thought as soon as I read it that I would would like to donate and help out because I just don’t know what sort of person would do that.
“My dad felt exactly the same and said to me it would be nice if someone could donate and he was over the moon when I told him that’s exactly what I had in mind.”
But it is not just Dan who rushed to help the cause. Several of the hospice patients and their families were so shocked and saddened to hear about the break in they donated their old gardening tools.
As community members have banded together to replace some of the stolen items, some of the donated funds will now go towards improving security and CCTV on the grounds to prevent future criminals from targeting the hospice.
“It has been really heart-warming to hear from generous kind hearted people who want to help.
“One local donor put an envelope though the door containing £20 and every donation is hugely appreciated.
“It is a shame thieves feel they can steal from a charity but the positive response has really encouraged the staff and volunteers here.
“Our volunteer gardeners work so hard and we are lucky to have beautiful grounds so I am delighted we can provide them with the equipment they need.
“We work so very hard to raise funds to provide our services free for local people and it is always difficult when we have to spend money unnecessarily.
“With the donations received we hope to improve and update our CCTV equipment and site security to hopefully prevent this happening again as well as purchase the tools needed.”
