Written by Paige Tamasi
Recently, Insanity Radio was visited by two members of Woking & Sam Beare Hospice. They sat down with me and discussed their various projects and recent fundraising activity.
Insanity Radio is always happy to help the hospice, as we greatly believe in their projects and beliefs. Woking & Sam Beare Hospice is a small charity that is dependent on the volunteers who give their time, the donors, and the NHS for funding. For such a small organisation, it is difficult for them to come up with over eight million British pounds annually, which is necessary to keep their care running at the high quality they pride themselves on.
This is one of the reasons why we sat down with them. Many of the Woking & Sam Beare Hospice team have just completed two massive fundraising projects: Skydiving and Palliative Pacers. The Skydiving saw the vast majority of the receptionist team, in addition to other volunteers and members, willingly jump out of a plane at either ten thousand or fifteen thousand feet in the air. Many of them have a great fear of heights, so this event saw them place the lives and comfort of their patients above their own.
Woking & Sam Beare Hospice values their patients so much, evidenced by their Skydiving to fundraise. But they also had a Palliative Pacers Team that trained for more than an entire year to complete the Thames Paths Challenge. The Thames Paths Challenge is around one hundred kilometres of walking over about thirty-six straight hours; they only stopped for brief moments for food and water.
The efforts that the Woking & Sam Beare team goes to for their patients and their charity is extremely admirable. When they sat down to talk to me what stood out the most was their calm and gentle demeanor. They loved what they did and were so excited to participate in the fundraising because they knew it would directly benefit their patients.
Despite these two successful massive fundraising projects that they have just completed, Woking & Sam Beare have also just launched another project: Always In Our Hearts Appeal; this project aims to raise half a million pounds for the hospice by March 2025. Like the name suggests the hospice team is constantly thinking of their patients and the best way to provide care, not only to them but also their patients’ families and support network.
Knowing your loved one is approaching the end of life is difficult for anyone to watch and experience, and Woking & Sam Beare are aware of this. To help provide support to the loved ones of patients, they offer various forms of therapy and support to the loved ones. It should come as no surprise then that one of the hospice’s top values and commitments is to lead and provide with compassion and sensitivity —ensuring that everyone under their care feels respected.
The hospice provides 8760 hours of personalised care and support each year; which, yes, means that their team offer 24-hour care every week. Considering that the entire team places such importance on giving the best care they can, and the fact that all services are completely free, Woking & Sam Beare have such a positive impact on the community and world.
Written by Paige Tamasi, Edited by Paige Tamasi, Photography by Matthias Zomer through Pexel’s Licence and Woking & Sam Beare Hospice, Published by Paige Tamasi.