The wonderful team of volunteers who run and manage the coffee shop within the Rosemere Cancer Centre at Royal Preston Hospital have made their largest ever donation to us – a fantastic £30,690!
The donation represents the coffee shop’s latest annual profits and was presented to our Head of Charities Dan Hill and our fundraising manager Sue Swire at the volunteers’ yearly social, which was held at Our Lady & St Edward’s Catholic Church Hall, Fulwood.
Dan said: “We are blown away by the amount gifted to us by our coffee shop volunteers. We were given space within the cancer centre that we made into a coffee shop 22 years ago.
“Our primary motivation was to provide a refreshments service for patients waiting for their appointments and many of our first volunteers were former patients keen to see our plan work. With no staff overheads, we have always benefited from any profits, which have gone to support our projects, but this year’s donation is almost triple anything we have received before.”
Dan continued: “We know from talking to patients, those who attend with them and cancer centre staff that the hot and cold drinks, toast, toasted tea cakes and other snacks, plus the ice creams and ice lollies available in summer, are very much appreciated and were really missed when the Covid pandemic forced the coffee shop to close.
“Since it has re-opened, the coffee shop has been more popular than ever but our congratulations must go to the volunteer team for its fantastic management job, which I know has included a drive to keep stock wastage to an absolute minimum. We are immensely grateful and proud of all the team.”
The coffee shop is open Mondays to Fridays, 8-30 am to 4 pm, and for new patient open mornings on Saturdays every other month. Since it opened and with this year’s donation, it has raised an incredible £356,059 for us, to help make a difference for local cancer patients. Thank you again to all involved, we hugely appreciate your kind support and hard work!
(New volunteers to the team are always welcome. Anyone interested should contact Sue Lawson via email at susan.lawson61@outlook.com)