Greenfingers charity announces major new fundraising appeal
Greenfingers, the charity dedicated to creating gardens in children’s hospices around the UK, has announced a major new fundraising appeal to support its ambitious plans for creating many more children’s hospice gardens.
The ‘Rosy Cheeks’ Appeal aims to raise £750,000 over the next two years to build at least 10 new gardens in children’s hospices around the country.
To date, Greenfingers has designed and delivered 39 hospice gardens and are dedicated to creating further beautiful and inspiring outdoors spaces for children with life-limiting conditions to enjoy with family, friends and siblings, whether through play and fun, or therapeutic rest and relaxation. The charity is driven by the belief that time spent outdoors, away from the bedside, can offer children and families under considerable stress a vital opportunity to embrace the benefits of being in the fresh air and engaging with the natural environment.
The new Rosy Cheeks Appeal aims to galvanise the charity’s plans to build more gardens and to impress upon the horticultural industry and the general public how beneficial time spent outdoors is for children with life-limiting conditions.
The ‘Rosy Cheeks’ name represents the precious moment in time when a flush of warmth is brought to a child’s face when spending time outdoors. ‘Rosy Cheeks’ moments are even more vital to children in the care of hospices, giving them the chance to embrace the simple pleasures many of us take for granted – the pleasure of enjoying the natural world, away from the pressures of their conditions.
The gardens Greenfingers hopes to build under the umbrella of the appeal will provide carefully designed, therapeutic, natural environments where families can enjoy these ‘Rosy Cheeks’ moments together.
Matthew Wilson, Chairman of Greenfingers, launched the appeal yesterday (Friday), commenting: "At Greenfingers we are unashamedly ambitious in our aim to provide wonderful outdoor spaces for as many children as possible being cared for at hospices all around the UK, and we are delighted to launch the Rosy Cheeks Appeal today to drive our plans forward.
"We truly believe that having access to specially designed, stimulating garden spaces can bring vital benefits for children with life-limiting conditions. Whilst many of us may take for granted the simple pleasure of being able to enjoy a garden, for these children, their siblings and their families, the chance to spend time together outdoors and away from the bedside is precious.
"We are aiming to raise the funds to build at least a further ten Greenfingers gardens over the next two years and are calling on everyone to get involved in whatever way they can, with donations large and small, to help us turn these plans into a reality and enrich the lives of children who really need our help."
Greenfingers has announced details of the first five gardens to be built under the Rosy Cheeks Appeal, and hopes to confirm at least a further five as the appeal progresses. The first five Rosy Cheeks Appeal gardens will be at:
Little Havens Hospice in Essex
EllenorLions Hospice in Kent
Chestnut Tree House in Sussex
Forget Me Not Children’s Hospice in Yorkshire
Horizon House in Belfast
Vital funds now need to be raised in order to progress these five gardens and Greenfingers urges anyone who is able to donate to the Rosy Cheeks Appeal as a whole, or is interested in donating towards a specific garden, should get in touch now. The sooner funds can be raised the sooner work can begin.
Pictured above: Greenfingers Board of Trustees at the launch of the Greenfingers Rosy Cheeks Appeal at Clifton Nurseries in London. From left to right: Paul Ormond, Matthew Wilson, John Little, Chris Webb, Caroline Owen, Peter Field, Richard Jackson, Carol Paris, John Ashley, Mark Rachovides. Picture taken by Tessa Newmark.
