For someone to really understand the work a charity does, it usually requires them to need the help of a charity.
It’s not until something happens to us, a relative or someone in our community, that we truly appreciate how important charities are.
In recent years, larger charities have shied away from telling us – the public – where our donations go. They’re vague about what they do and about how much they spend. It’s assumed that we already know or (worse) they’re scared to let us know the true cost of their operations.
Is it any wonder that charitable donations are down year on year?
But there are exceptions.
Local and regional charities are very good at telling us why they exist and who they are helping.
Demelza Hospice Care for Children is one such charity.
We were invited to see Demelza’s hospice in Sittingbourne, Kent and were staggered by the facilities there. It has a hydrotherapy pool, sensory rooms, sleeping facilities, an amazing kitchen and some of the most incredible equipment.
One such piece of equipment is an eye-gaze machine. It’s a tablet that generates speech by tracking eye movements. It gives a voice to those who don’t have one.
One little girl was able to take an eye-gaze machine home for the weekend and her mother was able to hear her speak (via the machine) for the first time. Do you know what she said?
“I love you.”
Her mother was leaving the room to make a drink and thought she had imagined it. When she came back into the room, the little girl said again: “I love you, mum”.
It’s stories like this that make us so proud to support Demelza Hospice with our me:now charity programme.
How we are supporting Demelza
Every business that registers on the me:now app using the code DEMELZA will get two months of our premium tier for free. After that, if they continue on the premium tier we’ll donate 40% of their subscription directly to Demelza – and we’ll do it for up to 12 months.
If just 100 businesses in the South East register, this could add up to nearly £17,000 for Demelza. And the more that sign up, the more we’ll give.
We think it’s an amazing cause, and hope you do too.
Hit the App Store and Google Play buttons below to download me:now and get started.