Teddy Bear Presentation to Helen and Douglas Hospice
Started in 2001, Teddies for Loving Care (TLC) has distributed nearly 2 million Teddy Bears to children’s A&E departments across the UK.
Not only do the teddy bears comfort and appease the children, they really do make the nursing staff’s job easier in appraising and befriending the often distraught kiddies. Not every child receives a teddy, but those that do, get to keep it and take it home.
Young people with life-shortening conditions often need care 24 hours a day, seven days a week, over many years. It is usually their families they rely on for it. Helen & Douglas House offers medically supported short breaks, specialist pain and symptom management and end-of-life care, as well as counselling and practical support for the whole family.
Although based in Oxford, the Hospice also provides care and support to young people in the surrounding counties.
Tom Davies, a member of Planet Lodge 8142, which meets in Slough, has been a great champion of the charity and has donated £2000 to the Hospice that he raised from the sale of second hand masonic regalia to Freemasons in Bucks.
Mel Shah, who is the local coordinator for TLC recently visited the Helen and Douglas House Hospice accompanied by Buckinghamshire Assistant Provincial Grand Master (APGM) Graham Dearing, and Tom.
Mel said “This Charity is a new recipient of the teddies and we hope that they are of great comfort to those youngsters who receive them. After the presentation, we were taken on a conducted tour of the Hospice and the various activities that the patients take part in, for example music and art, were explained to us. This Hospice is like a respite care centre for terminally ill children and young adults and helps patients from all over the country.”
Top photograph from left to right:
Kay Horner and Alison Hooker, Fund Raising team, Mel Shah, TLC Coordinator in Bucks, Graham Dearing APGM, Hazel Bedford, Director Fund Raising and Marketing, Tom Davies, Planet Lodge
Photograph below:
Tom Davies donating £1,000 to the Helen & Douglas House Hospice
