Giving someone a dignified death is the most important thing anyone can do, and that’s what St Barnabas does. I work in one of the St Barnabas Hospice shops, and every day, I feel so proud to be helping put money where it needs to go – to hospice care. If you cut me in half like a stick of rock, you’d see ‘St Barnabas’ running right through me! The hospice means everything to me.
Customers often tell me how wonderful the care team were looking after their loved ones. And I remind everyone I work with that we’re not just selling clothes or books, we’re helping take care of local families. But it’s not just the staff and volunteers – we’re all in this together.
When someone buys a £5 jumper, it’s £5 towards pain relief to help someone be comfortable at home or a home-cooked meal for a patient in the hospice. No matter how you support St Barnabas, it’s something to be extremely proud of.
I’ll never forget a friend telling me how lovely it was visiting her son in the hospice. She told me he was so well looked after, and it gave her such comfort to see him happy before he passed. And I think that says it all. If your loved one is peaceful at the end of their life, what more can you ask for?
To be cared for with kindness. To be as free from pain as possible. To be somewhere that feels like home, with your family beside you. That’s the kind of care I’d want for my family, and for me too. And that’s what the hospice gives people. Without St Barnabas, we’d lose it all. We can’t let that happen.
That’s why I think it’s up to us all to help keep St Barnabas going. One way we can do that is by leaving a gift in our Will. If all of us leave something – even something small – we’ll help local families like ours get the care they need when they need it most.
Knowing I’ll still be helping the hospice even when I’m not here anymore feels amazing. And I’ll live on through my gift too.
Thank you to Debbie, and all our legators. Your legacy will continue through the care you’ll make possible in years to come.
To find out more about leaving A Gift For Generations, please visit: Make a Will with St Barnabas Hospice