Tie-up will help funding for Birmingham St Mary’s.
Birmingham St Mary’s Hospice has teamed up with Birmingham Moseley Rugby Club to help raise much-needed funds to support its vital work.
The leading Birmingham hospice has become the sports club’s Charity of the Year, which will see the two organisations work together to increase awareness and money for hospice care.
As part of the partnership, volunteers from the Selly Park-based charity will be bucket collecting at home games, with every penny raised helping to provide care and support to local people living with life-limiting illness.
The rugby union club, which is based at Billesley Common, will also be the location for two of the charity’s upcoming events – the Jingle Bell Jog and Rugby Ramble.
The Jingle Bell Jog (front pic) will see hundreds of bighearted Santas take over the Common, as they race 2.5k and 5k routes whilst wearing free Santa suits. The Rugby Ramble is a 10-mile sponsored walk that finishes at the club, where participants will be rewarded with a pint, pie and live screening of the popular England Vs Wales game.
This is the second time the Hospice has been chosen to be Birmingham Moseley Rugby Club’s Charity of the Year, with their first partnership taking place in 2015.
Robin Johnson, commercial director at Birmingham Moseley Rugby Club, said: “As a Birmingham sports club, it’s important that we support a charity which supports local people. That’s why we chose Birmingham St Mary’s Hospice as our Charity of the Year, as we know the care the doctors and nurses provide is a lifeline to people living across Birmingham.We look forward to welcoming the Hospice to our club and know our generous supporters will raise bucket-loads of money to help fund its vital care.”
Charlotte Dowling, community fundraising manager at Birmingham St Mary’s Hospice, commented: “Birmingham Moseley Rugby Club has been a fantastic Hospice supporter over the years, so we’re thrilled to be their official Charity of the Year partner for their upcoming season. We can’t wait to work in partnership to raise vital funding – as well as meet their brilliant supporters at matches – and hope that together, we can spread the word of the wide range of services we provide.
“It costs £8 million to run our Hospice every year – over 60 per cent of which comes from voluntary funding – so we really do rely on the generous support of local people to ensure we can continue to provide our care to people whenever and wherever they need it.”
Every day, Birmingham St Mary’s Hospice cares for 400 people living with life-limiting illness across Birmingham and Sandwell. The Hospice helps people to live well with their illness, by offering personalised support in people’s homes, in local communities and at its building in Selly Park.