Last year Hospice at Home West Cumbria launched a new fundraising campaign - ’50 Faces for Hospice’ and urged the local community to get behind them. The idea was for 50 supporters to sign up with a pledge to raise £500 over a six month period. 18 people signed up to the campaign, which ended on January 1 and collectively raised just over £11,000. Every penny raised will help fund the vital work that Hospice at Home West Cumbria’s clinical teams provide across West Cumbria.

Gemma Bell, community fundraiser for Hospice at Home West Cumbria said: “In March 2020 we knew all of our annual fundraising plans had to change. The ’50 Faces for Hospice’ campaign was developed to allow people to raise funds from the comfort of their own homes and the ideas people came up with were fantastic! From making and selling facemasks, running and walking challenges, virtual car boot sales and online raffles – to name a few, the commitment from the supporters was incredible. The amount raised is amazing and will be a huge help, ensuring we can carry on delivering our vital services in the local community, particularly in these strange times we are living in at the moment”.

Louisa Levoi who owns the Quince & Medlar restaurant in Cockermouth is a regular supporter of the charity, and signed up to be one of the first 50 Faces for Hospice.

Louisa said “I started off raising money by making and selling facemasks. We had hoped to do a competition on our stall at The Taste Cumbria festival as there are usually about 10,000 visitors to the town, but as per everything this year it was cancelled, so we decided to run the competition in the restaurant, but of course we only had a fraction of the foot fall. The idea was to guess how many medlars were in the jar, to win dinner for two at Quince and Medlar.

"We were delighted with the enthusiasm of our customers and enjoyed watching them trying to work out the number. Generally women just guessed but the men seemed to get very involved with mathematical workings out- It was a local lady that won the prize.

"Hospice at Home West Cumbria is a fantastic charity. I have first-hand experience of seeing close family and friends being looked after by the Hospice at Home ‘angels’. My Mum designed the first logo when Hospice at Home West Cumbria was first launched and she was a great admirer of the cause. Keep up with your amazing work”.

If people would like to donate or fundraise for Hospice at Home West Cumbria, contact the fundraising team on either 01900 873173 or info@hhwc.org.