Swamped by kindness: Severn Hospice receives 1,000 donations in deluge of generosity
Supporters have deluged a hospice charity with more than 1,000 bags and boxes of donations in just a week since it opened a special donation station.
Such has been the generosity towards Severn Hospice, the charity has had to introduce an appointments system so it can keep up.
“We have been swamped by kindness, our supporters have been absolutely amazing,” said the hospice’s head of retail Ross Henderson.
“We don’t want people to stop donating, we’re just asking them ring us first so we can manage the rate at which they’re coming to our door,” he added.
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The charity’s Bicton hospice, in Shrewsbury, is currently the only place it can process donations as all its shops remain closed.
“Even with extra volunteers drafted in we’ve struggled to process everything because of the new way we have to do things,” said Ross.
All donations are quarantined before they can be sorted, steam-cleaned and prepared for sale. With no shops open, there is nowhere further for the goods to go except to be safely stored for when the charity’s shops do reopen.
“This is a fantastic problem to have and we are so grateful to everyone who’s responded so positively to our appeal for stock,” said Ross.
He said a dedicated phone number and appointment booking system will run from Thursday onwards.
“Thank you to everyone who’s been dropping off their charity bags already and to everyone who’s still bagging up. We’re ready to take your donation, but please call us first!”
“We are looking right now at opening our first shop next week and then we’ll be having a phased reopening across the whole network. I can’t wait and what I’m hearing from our regular customers is that they can’t either,” he added.
The hospice’s donation hotline is 01743 216 633 and is open 10am-4pm, Monday to Friday.
