Crafty mornings have popular appeal
Day care is one of the hospice programmes the Tree of Light helps to fund.
THE lounge at the South Coast Hospice centre in Port Shepstone is a hive of activity on any Tuesday morning from 10.30am.
This is when hospice volunteers host their popular day care sessions for any patients who feel like a convivial outing. Hospice volunteers first started organising these pleasant mornings many years ago and many patients have found them to be most therapeutic. Guests are treated to a delicious tea and a craft-making session, some pleasant socialising with friendly people, encouragement and support, plenty of smiles and lots of laughter.
The day care programme is just one of many run by the dedicated and hardworking South Coast Hospice management team, staff and volunteers. This amazing organisation reaches out to all South Coast communities, both urban and rural, and its benefits are felt far and wide.
A massive annual budget is needed to run the many hospice programmes and to maintain the world class quality of the palliative treatment, in- and out-patient care, family support, grief counselling and training that our hospice provides. This is why fund-raising campaigns like the annual Tree of Light are vital to South Coast Hospice’s continued existence.
The Tree of Light is an international hospice symbol, representing love and remembrance. The South Coast’s shimmering blue tree beams out this message from the Southcoast Mall, where it is erected, every year.
For a small donation an individual person, organisation or business can light a symbolic lamp on the tree in memory of a special person who is no longer with us. Many people light lamps in memory of beloved pets. Others simply light a lamp to honour South Coast Hospice. Thanks to the continued generosity of hospice’s many South Coast supporters, the Tree of Light campaign generates substantial funds every year.
If you would like to light a lamp for someone special or to honour South Coast Hospice, pick up a donation form from the Southcoast Mall Tree of Light table at the Southcoast Mall on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays or from the mall’s management office at other times. Donation forms are also available from the South Coast Hospice Centre in Port Shepstone. For more information or if you would like a form to be sent to you, contact South Coast Hospice at 039 6823031.
All local and visiting families are invited to attend the carol evening and ceremony to mark the official switching on of the lights on the South Coast’s tree. This heartwarming, family festive season event takes place at the Southcoast Mall on December 7, starting at 6.30pm. The tree lighting ceremony takes place at 8pm.
