Good news from Helen Rollason Cancer Charity

In line with Government guidelines, Helen Rollason Cancer Charity Support Centres and Charity Shops closed on the 23^rd March.

 

Knowing how important our services are to our clients meant we have had to diversify the support we could provide at this time and have implemented welfare calls, by telephone, to clients and volunteers.

 

We are very proud to say that to date our therapists have had 923 conversations and left 389 messages with clients. These have been very well received; listening to clients who have had medical treatment cancelled or delayed, sign posting people to the range of online and virtual support groups such as mindfulness and yoga that we have set up or having a general chat has been hugely beneficial. We have also been providing emergency and crisis counselling sessions by telephone.

 

Here are some quotes from clients we have recently helped;

 

““The counsellor had given me back my joy in life, she had taught me how to deal with my own concerns with methods to enable me to deal with worries and fear as they come along. I have hope again and even look more to the future with plans that I had long shelved. Cancer will be here long after Covid 19 – please help to ensure that the Helen Rollason Charity is also still here.”

 

“I had a lovely chat with Wendy today when she called me for the second time. She listened to my worries and we shared our experiences during this unsettling time. She’s the first person I’ve spoken to this week. Thank you.”

 

“I understand you all really tried hard to support your clients. I have nothing but high praise for your team who really went above and beyond. A big thank you; Helen would be so proud of what you have achieved, you really do show that you care.”

 

As is the case for so many charities, the pandemic has impacted our budgeted income. Our annual cycle event Ride for Helen should have taken place in May at Crix in the village but this has been rescheduled to Sunday 20th September 2020. We may have to restrict numbers and change some processes but we are confident this will take place. Online registration is available at www.rideforhelen.co.uk

 

Our eBay shop has reopened and sales have picked up quickly. Have a browse; we guarantee that social distancing is not an issue in this shop! We stock something for everybody – children’s clothing to fishing equipment, porcelain figures to designer shoes and clothing. I know that many people used some of lockdown to have a sort out and tidy cupboards and sheds. If you have anything you think we could sell on eBay then please let us know.

So many of the fabulous events hosted by supporters, businesses and in the community have been cancelled. Therefore to try and recoup some of the deficit in the income we have launched our Summer Online Raffle! Tickets are £5 each with an opportunity to win some fabulous prizes. I appreciate that for some people £5 is a big ask but for anybody who does buy a ticket we can assure you that the money will be spent wisely to enable quality of life while living with cancer.

 

We are very grateful to have been supported by Tevva Motors Limited in Chelmsford, and employee Shaun Baxter for the donation of 79 face shields that will be used by staff and volunteers when our Cancer Support Centres reopen. Shaun is on furlough leave but has used his time to make the shields with materials provided by the company.

We are going to be reopening our charity shops, in phases, in the next few weeks but before we do we have a shopping list of support equipment we will need;

 

– 20 boxes of latex gloves

– 20 packets of antibacterial wipes

– 4 blue roll holders and blue roll

– 3 paper towel holders and paper towels

 

We are also looking for some additional storage space in the village of Hatfield Peverel to store the donations we have been receiving. If anyone has an unused garage, large shed, warehouse or similar in the local area that we could borrow for the next 3 or 4 months then please do get in touch.

 

Do you have any of the above that you would be happy to donate and help us keep our costs down? If so please contact our CEO Kate Alden on 07730 209442 or email [email protected]

 

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