Coronavirus / COVID-19 is having an impact that is frankly on a path to be devastating to Children’s Hospice Services the world over. While some are open to provide their respite care services to the children and families, many if not most are postponing all services that are not end-of-life care.
Even some of the end-of-life services, mainly those that happen immediately after the death of the child are either highly restricted or are not able to happen at all.
The frustrating point for me is in knowing that the impact of COVID-19 will be felt by these services and the patients and families they serve for so much longer than many of us will be feeling the discomfort and frustration that comes with social distancing.
Many of the Children’s Hospices have had to cancel or postpone indefinitely all of their in-person fundraising events for the foreseeable future. I know that I personally have heard from Children’s Hospices who are bracing themselves for a shortfall between $1 Million and $2 Million.
Noah’s Ark Children’s Hospice in Central London has said they might outright have to close its doors if they are hit with the expected £2 Million shortfall in their budget.
So, what can we do when things are so different from the normal that we are used to…when we don’t know when our old normal will be back? Well, how about if I show you an easy source of funds that you would be able to donate and not impact your wallet more than you would on any “normal” work day.
What are you doing with your daily coffee funds? If you are not running to your local coffee shop for that Mocha or Latte once or twice a day…why not donate those funds to a local Children’s Hospice. For me that’s $5.50 a week (I work from home and treat myself once a week or so) but the $25 I would reload my card with in April, well, that will be going to a Children’s Hospice here in the US. I’ll also be finding £25 or about $30 to go to a Children’s Hospice in the UK. Could you do the same? It takes almost no thought to go grab that coffee…but imagine how many lives you’d be able to impact, if, when this is all over, the Children’s Hospice Services were able to have fully stocked kitchens, and able to serve families a favorite meal when they are there for care.
If you are in the US and want to donate to a US-based Children’s Hospice I’m linking below to the donation pages for each of the three Children’s Hospices here in the US.
Donate to George Mark Children’s House
Donate to Ryan House
Donate to Crescent Cove
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