NFU Mutual Wessex, based in Salisbury and Wareham, has chosen a third local charity to receive a donation of more than £6,400 from a national £2 million ‘Agency Giving Fund’ launched by NFU Mutual head office. This follows donations to two other local charities made earlier this year: Salisbury Foodbank and Julia’s House Children’s Hospice, based in Dorset and Wiltshire.
This donation has enabled Lewis-Manning Hospice Care to support and make a difference to their local community during the pandemic.
Claire Warren, Trust Fundraiser at Lewis-Manning Hospice Care, said “Thank you to NFU Mutual Wessex for this extraordinary grant which will help Lewis-Manning Hospice Care to provide extraordinary hospice care services to the people of East Dorset and Purbeck. Our virtual day hospice gives our patients access to our specialist palliative care team from the comfort and safety of their own homes. Using hand held tablets provided by Lewis-Manning, patients connect with our nursing staff and other patients.”
Mandy Harris our Senior Day Hospice Nurse, said: “The purpose of these sessions is to promote a sense of wellbeing and a positive approach to living with a life-limiting illness, as well as to alleviate the feeling of loneliness that patients may be experiencing and giving clinical advice and support.”
Thank you from all staff and patients at Lewis-Manning Hospice Care for supporting this service.”
Steven Bartlett, Senior Partner at NFU Mutual Wessex, said “COVID-19 continues to have a huge impact on everybody, including our customers and their local communities. Lewis-2 Manning Hospice Care has been making a wonderful difference to our community during these challenging times, and we feel extremely proud to hear how our support has made an impact.”
Background to these donations
In light of the national emergency our country is continuing to face, NFU Mutual, the UK’s leading rural insurer, announced this £2million fund in February to help local frontline charities during 2021. This follows £1million of support delivered by NFU Mutual’s Agency Giving Fund in 2020, which helped charities across many sectors to keep their life-changing services going throughout the pandemic.
To ensure these donations reach all corners of the UK and are directed where they’re needed most, NFU Mutual’s Agents, with over 300 offices nationwide, have been given the opportunity to nominate local charities to receive a share of the fund. The funds will be distributed over 16 weeks from the end of February, offering support as lockdown measures continue to impact our communities.