The hospices need your help now more than ever.

Dear Family and Friends,

We are going on an adventure and we hope you will follow and support us!

We are joining a group from St Catherine’s Hospice (Crawley) walking across the Jordanian desert to Petra. It will be a five-day trek, scrambling across the ‘Hamada’ landscape (dry, rocky desert) walking 16Km most days with a climb of 597m on Day 2 in temperatures up to 30c....camping overnight in a two (wo)man tent!

This will be a great challenge and for us there is no better charity to support. We are paying for the trek costs ourselves, meaning that all monies donated will go directly to St Catherine’s Hospice - a cause very close to our hearts.

St Catherine’s vision is a world where everyone can face death informed, supported and pain free - treating people with understanding, patience, respect and most importantly with dignity. St Catherine’s not only cares for those living with a life-limiting or terminal condition, but offers bereavement, financial and carer support to their loved ones, along with counselling support for bereaved people across our community.

St Catherine’s needs £10 million per annum to deliver this crucial care and of this only £2.5 million is government funded. Each year around £7.5 million is donated by supporters and those sponsoring antics like ours; an incredible amount. That means St Catherine’s can continue to deliver tailored care to people when they need it most.

Sadly, along with many other hospices across the country, St Catherine’s Hospice has recently announced that it needs to pare back some of the work it provides after some 10 years of service growth. The hospice is therefore undergoing a period of reflection and consultation to consider carefully the best options of how to afford the provision of services to the communities across Sussex and Surrey. This situation has come about because of the increased cost of living arising from high inflation, itself stemming from global economic factors, which have driven up almost all costs. This of course impacts the whole community and so, recognising that some supporters are themselves under pressure, St Catherine’s is forced to be cautious with its projected income for the years ahead. Paired with the national Nursing shortage, this creates a challenging picture to navigate.

Thank you so much in advance for your generosity.

With love,

Caroline and Jenny