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Thank you Plett!

Category What's happening in Plettenberg Bay

Chairman of Hospice Plett, Hilary Matthews, writes:

In early January this year I had the discomforting task of having to send out an SOS to the Plett community via CXpress newspaper. The cold hard fact was that in spite of careful and watchful financial management and major cost cutting, we were knew that our own Day Zero was imminent.

We called for help and Plett responded and so a report back is required:

Without going again into the reasons we provided in that SOS, broadly speaking one of the key challenges was the ending of a 3 year grant from the Discovery Fund for our Programme Operational Costs and the challenge of securing corporate grants in a difficult economic climate.

The response from Plett was swift, generous, deeply humbling and reassuring. Dr Berning followed up with his own compelling call on our behalf. Cash donations from local donors keep coming in. Thank you Plett!

On April 28 we opened our Hospice Plett Charity Shop. This shop in the heart of Plett is testimony to the power of community service partnership. Our Hospice Plett volunteers make up a service team of dedicated, committed and creative individuals. Our first month of trading quality gently- used goods exceeded our wildest projections and each month confirms just how valuable this venture is for us.

The shop is our way of taking responsibility for our own income generation. In approaching major donors for programme funding it is always a plus to be able to show that we are doing that. Of course, to be able to do that we rely on a steady supply of donated goods from our community. And that stream remains steady and strong. This shop is a delightful and lucrative demonstration of community partnership in lively action. Pop in and feel the positive vibe! 

Continuing the theme of partnership Helen Melon Properties is now into their second year of subsidising our ever -soaring vehicle maintenance and fuel costs and of linking us in to their client base via Facebook. Since our January Appeal went out Autech Motors who service our vehicles have made further donations in kind to us, writing off what we owed them in our darkest days early this year, and not charging us for labour. ADT Fidelity installed our security systems at no cost to us. John Wilschut Signs designed made and installed all our Hospice Plett shop signage at no cost to us. The Goose Valley Golf Club made us their charity beneficiary for 2018. The Rotary Club of Plett provide ongoing support of us in cash and kind. We have longstanding monthly debit donors with Cornerway House taking the lead, as well as those who donate through our GivenGain portal (www.plettaid.org). Recently Bitou Municipality has made a generous donation to us form the mayor's Grant Fund.

Imagine our relief when in March we received a grant from the IQRAA Trust and in May Discovery Fund informed us that our appeal to them for the continuation of their funding of our Programme costs has been successful and our partnership with them secured for another three years. So like Cape Town the spectre of our Day Zero has receded and our financial figures are looking so much better. Our thanks to Discovery and our heartfelt thanks to Sister Cecily van Heerden our CEO who has borne the heavy burden of responsibility of keeping many management balls in the air and at the same time being on call to walk alongside members of our community on their end journeys.

Now we can breathe, reassess and build our consolidation plan for deepening our organisational capacity to serve our Plett community. Here I must to pay tribute to our team of care -givers and nurses. They have been kept fully apprised of our financial situation and have hung in with us from month to month even though their own month to month employment situation has been so uncertain, They have not wavered or missed a beat in their devotion of their service to the diverse Plett community. Thank you!

We move forward humbled and grateful. We ask for your continued support. Living and Giving together, we can affirm the value of the life of each individual we serve in our diverse community as it runs its course and reaches its end.

Author: Helen Ward

Submitted 23 Jul 18 / Views 2124