Warwickshire News Mine

Around £2,600, including gift aid, has been raised for the Myton Hamlet Hospices in Warwick and Rugby and Nuneaton’s Mary Ann Evans Hospice through a scheme that enables former employees of Warwickshire County Council to donate the ‘spare’ pennies from their pensions.

The pensioners were first invited to donate over six months ago and with more people joining the scheme every month, the donations are set to grow and grow.

‘Pennies from Heaven’ is a national scheme that has been adopted by Warwickshire County Council. It invites pensioners and employees to round down their monthly pension or salary to the nearest pound and donate the pennies left over to the hospices, which were the two nominated charities chosen by the county council.

The scheme started twelve months ago for Warwickshire County Council staff and during that time over £14,000 has been raised for the hospices.

The Myton Hospices and Mary Ann Evans Hospice provide specialised care for people with life limiting illnesses. The Mary Ann Evans Hospice is an independent, purpose-built day hospice situated in the grounds of the George Eliot Hospital. It was established in 1990 to provide day care to residents whose GPs are based in the boroughs of Nuneaton, Bedworth and North Warwickshire.

The Myton Hospices opened their first inpatient unit in Warwick in 1982 and remain the only inpatient unit within Coventry and Warwickshire. They now also run Day Hospices and Hospice at Home services both from their original site in Warwick and their purpose built day hospice in Rugby which opened in 2002.

The Myton Hospices and the Mary Ann Evans Hospice in Nuneaton are receiving an equal share of the amount donated. They are able to gift aid the donations, adding 28 pence to every pound the pensioners contribute.

The pennies soon add up and the funds donated to the hospices by Warwickshire County Council pensioners so far will be enough to cover, for example, the costs of one patient’s meals for six months at one of the Myton Hospices or transport for 500 patients to and from the Mary Ann Evans Hospice.

Janet Griffin, Fundraising Manager for the Mary Ann Evans Hospice, said: “Pennies from Heaven is a wonderful fundraising project for the Mary Ann Evans Hospice.

“A few pennies donated every month, when added together will make a huge difference to the provision of hospice care. We would like to express our sincere thanks and stress that every penny counts.”

Anita Burrows, Community Fundraiser from Myton Hospice, said: “We were delighted when Warwickshire County Council nominated us to be one of their chosen charities for the Pennies from Heaven Appeal.
“Our work depends on the generous support of the people of Warwickshire and this appeal just goes to show how easy it is to give a little but help a lot.”

Martyn Thompson, Deputy Head of Human Resources at Warwickshire County Council, said: “We are very grateful to all our pensioners who have joined the scheme and with more staff and pensioners joining each month the amount raised continues to increase. Our target for 2008 is to raise over £20,000 to support our charities.”

Anthony Law, Managing Director of Pennies from Heaven, said: “It is clear that the generosity of staff and pensioners at Warwickshire County Council is making a real difference and just another example how effective this simple scheme is.”

Link to WCC