We’ve always been astounded by the incredible kindness and generosity of the St Peter & St James Hospice community, but this past year – more than ever – has highlighted just how compassionate and generous people can be.
In honour of our lovely supporters across Sussex and beyond, we publish a monthly round-up celebrating some of our hospice community heroes: a snapshot of just a few of the brilliant people making our work possible. We would love to say a heartfelt thank you to this month’s heroes, and also extend this outwards to the hundreds of others who stand with us in being there for local families living with terminal illness.
The dynamic duo of Jack Smart and Owen Larder raised a phenomenal £1,130.00 for us by running their very first half-marathon back at the beginning of May. Their 13-mile route took them through Ditchling, Hassocks, Burgess Hill, Wivelsfield Green and then completed on the hospice grounds where we were delighted to cheer them on over the finish line. The boys completed with a time of 1 hour and 59 minutes, which they were thrilled with after their months of hard work training up for the big day. Thank you and very well done boys!
The fabulous Samantha Mitchell had planned to jump out of a plane last November in support of our hospice care, however this was unfortunately postponed due to lockdown restrictions. Samantha’s treasured grandfather died from cancer in September 2020 after spending his last days being cared for at St Peter & St James Hospice, and his family were blown away with the standard of care that we were able to provide for him.
During her time spent at St Peter & St James, Samantha learnt that our hospice is only able to operate on the kindness and generosity of our community, with 85% of St Peter & St James’s income being charitable donations. Samantha decided that she wanted to raise some money after witnessing the high standards of our care with her grandfather, and chose a skydive to honour her grandfather who served in the Royal Air Force and to help conquer her fear of heights.
We are now delighted to announce that Samantha was finally able to take her leap on 17th April 2021, and jumped from the plane at 12,000 feet with a 30-40 second freefall! In doing so, she raised an astounding £2,000.00 for us in memory of her grandfather. Thank you Samantha, what a brave effort!
Finally, the wonderful Remi challenged herself earlier this year to running a mile a day for 30 days to raise money for the hospice, starting on 14th February. Remi chose to support St Peter & St James Hospice because we cared for her beloved Nanny in the last days of her life in 2016. Remi was determined to push herself outside of her comfort zone in order to make a difference and in doing so, raised an amazing £250.00! We are hugely inspired by Remi’s fantastic efforts, and very flattered at her determination to challenge herself in our honour!
From the bottom of our hearts, thank you to everybody featured in this month’s hospice community heroes round-up, we are always astounded by your efforts and determination and are incredibly grateful for every single donation.
