The Charity Wall has been launched by Sussex Newspapers - The West Sussex County Times, The Crawley Observer, The Mid-Sussex Times and The Sussex Express.
The aim of The Charity Wall is to raise over £6,000 for two local hospices, St Catherine's in Crawley and St Peters and St James near Wivelsfield Green.
Businesses are being invited to promote themselves on ‘The Charity Wall’ with direct links to their own website. Twenty-five per cent of the money raised will go directly to the two charities.
The Charity Wall is based on The Million Dollar Homepage, a website that revolutionised global internet advertising and made 1m dollars for its 21-year-old creator, university student Alex Tew. The project is believed to be the first of its kind in the world to be used for charity fundraising.
To advertise on the Charity Wall please contact one of our sales teams or e-mail paul.ashby@sussexnewspapers.co.uk
About the charities
St Catherine’s Hospice provide care and support to people with progressive life-threatening illnesses and support to their families, friends and carers in Mid Sussex, Crawley, Horsham and South-East Surrey. St Catherine's is not part of the NHS and its services are available completely free of charge.
The money raised from The Charity Wall will go direct to the community care team at St Catherine’s Hospice to help terminally ill people in their own homes.
On the Charity Wall initiative, St Catherine’s corporate fundraiser David Mossman said: “This could bring a lot of money into the hospice if local businesses really lend their support. We are always on the look out for innovative ways of raising cash for the important work we do at the hospice, and it is great to see others taking the bull by the horns and coming up with effective and original strategies”.
“The money donated to us will go straight into helping our community teams who do some extremely important work helping over 220 patients in their own homes. The teams help with patients’ pain and fatigue relief as well as working to get their symptoms under control”.
St Peter and St James Hospice and Continuing Care Centre is set in beautiful Sussex countryside just outside the village of Wivelsfield Green, near Burgess Hill. The centre cares for people with cancer
and other life-limiting illnesses from across Mid Sussex .
As well as a specialist in-patient unit the facilities include a Day Hospice; a Specialist Community Team supporting patients in their own homes and a psychosocial spiritual team including chaplaincy, counselling and patient welfare. Its work is supported by a small army of volunteers doing everything from serving teas to office work and gardening.
Karen Lambert, of the hospice’s fundraising department, said: “Local businesses are already extremely supportive of our fund-raising activities; this is a fantastic addition to the many ways in which they can support us. We have to raise more than £1 million each year to be able to continue to provide our vital services and receive just 13% of our funding from the Government. We are confident that the generosity of the business community over the years will be reflected in a good response to this innovative idea. The great thing about it is that the money raised will go towards the cost of patient care at the Hospice.”
