We are extremely grateful to the companies, trusts and individuals who make donations to assist our work supporting all hospices throughout the country.
It is a little known fact that each January Dilmah donates all the tea every hospice around the country requires for the year - over $24,000 worth.
This extremely generous donation has been quietly happening for the past 11 years - with a total value of over quarter of a million dollars and equating to over half a million cups of tea.
This ongoing donation saves hospice thousands of dollars and also ensures that patients and their families and friends, volunteers and staff are always able to have a comforting cup of the finest quality tea.
In addition to this, for two months each year Dilmah donates a portion of sales from a range of tea to hospice - around $30,000.
In 2011 Dilmah has extended their support for hospice through the Mankada project.
40,000 hand crafted pottery pendants and tea bag holders will be available for sale from early September at hospice shops throughout the country. This extremely generous donation will generate around $200,000 to support hospice services and ensure they remain completely free of charge to people with a life limiting illness, their families and friends.
The Mankada pottery venture is one of the many community based projects created by Merrill J Fernando’s MJF Foundation, the charitable arm of Dilmah tea, which was founded on the philosophy of what Merrill coined, “Business as a matter of human service.”
The project empowers a rural community in a remote and poor village close to the Uda Walawe National Park in South Eastern Sri Lanka – providing employment and a source of income for many local women.
For the past two years a local master potter, Ajith Perera, has trained and guided the community in the art of pottery making. The results are exquisite items which are enjoyed throughout the world thanks to the support of Dilmah, whose generosity has brought them to New Zealand for the benefit of hospice.
“The donation of pendants from the Mankada project is doubly meaningful – the funds that hospices will generate from sales of these items will go directly into supporting people using our services, whilst also supporting and empowering the women of the village back in Sri Lanka. What wonderful benefits from such a generous gift” explains Mary Schumacher, CEO of Hospice NZ.
Look out for these beautiful items for sale for just $5 in your local hospice shop from early September – all purchases support hospice services here in New Zealand as well as the village communities of South Eastern Sri Lanka.
As well as supporting our bi-ennial conference, our friends at Mundipharma regularly support projects that have benefit nationwide - in 2010 they gave a very generous donation that enabled a nationwide piece of research to take place.
For the past eight years, this trust has funded our flagship education programme, the Palliative Care Lecture series. The annual grant provided ensures we are able to deliver this monthly lecture via teleconference completely free of charge. To give you an idea of the size of this programme in 2010 we saw a 20% increase in overall participation on previous years. This meant that there was over 3000 individuals listening to the 11 lecture series. An average of 45 sites at various locations throughout the country dialed into the monthly teleconference to hear a range of national and international speakers.
We are extremely grateful for the annual support we receive from the Lottery Grants Board to support our work.
We are very grateful for the ongoing support we receive for our work and to provide the community with A Guide For Carer's, which is available free of charge thanks to this funding.
A direct selling company focusing on the greeting card market, for two years now, this company has made a generous donation to Hospice NZ from sales of a Christmas card. In 2010 every trader throughout the country was also encouraged to hold a butterfly tea party for their local hospice – raising over $13,000 for our members. We look forward to being beneficiaries of a similar event in2011. If you would like to host a butterfly tea party - click here to find out more.
