Faith groups have raised over £150,000 for the hospice in the last few years, helping us make a real difference to local people. 

By speaking at services about our work, sharing our knowledge with bereavement support groups and involving several churches in our annual Tree of Light initiative we are able to give people a better understanding of what we do to help local people.
Below are some examples of ways in which faith groups have chosen to support St Catherine’s.  To speak with someone about how your group can get involved, please contact Victoria Lawrence on 01293 447376 or at victorialawrence@stch.org.uk

Horley Christadelphian Ecclesia
A huge thank you to the members of Horley Christadelphian Ecclesia for their generous contribution of £1,112 to the hospice last December raised through the David Rohl lectures they held at The Hawth.  Following their event, we were delighted to show some of the members around St Catherine’s  to let them see for themselves the difference their fundraising efforts will make to their local community.

Christ Church URC, Pound Hill
Christ Church URC adopted St Catherine’s Hospice as one of their three chosen charities for 2009.  Their novel approach to charity adoptions saw the selection of a local charity, a national charity and an international charity, each of which were supported quarterly.  Throughout 2009, Christ Church URC raised awareness of the services provided by St Catherine’s to local residents and also raised a fantastic total of almost £1,000. 
Reverend Bridget Banks said: “We wanted to support St Catherine’s because we truly believe that the church is called to reach out into the community and serve it any way it can.”

Crawley Sikh Community
In June, the Sikh community in Crawley held an event in the town centre giving away food in return for a donation to St Catherine’s Hospice.  In the two weeks following this event, they also accepted donations via the Gurdwara.  Their efforts raised £1,851 for the hospice, for which we are very grateful.

PCC Nuthurst & Mannings Heath
PCC Nuthurst & Mannings Heath have been supporting St Catherine’s for several years through a new approach to their fundraising.  Rev. David Evans feels that giving to organisations other than the church is a very important part of Christian values and therefore introduced a new system for parish donors encouraging them to choose how their donations should be split between the church and other charities. 
Contributions from the PCC total over £13,000 and their Charity Giving Co-ordinator, Bernice Middleton, feels this has promoted a more whole-hearted approach to charitable giving, accounting for the increase in chartable support among Nuthurst  and Mannings Heath parishioners.  Several congregation members have also chosen to take their support even further by organising Harvest festival collections, taking part in events like St Catherine’s Midnight Walk and volunteering in the hospice with gardening, catering and driving. 

Tree of Light
So far ten churches in our catchment area have kindly chosen to support St Catherine’s this Christmas by hosting a Tree of Light event where local people can remember those separated from them by death, distance or circumstance.  These services are a real comfort to local residents and a great opportunity for churches to reach out to local residents.  We are so grateful to all of the participants for helping us in this way.  For more information about Tree of Light please click here.

Victoria Lawrence, Fundraiser at St Catherine's visits the Sikh Gurdwara to collect their fantastic donation of £1851

Many local faith groups have recently chosen to support St Catherine’s Hospice and we are so grateful for all of their kind contributions.  Here are some more examples of how they have been involved...

Church collections held by supporters including St Margaret’s Church in Ifield, Brighton Road Baptist Church in Horsham, Copthorne Chapel, Moat URC in East Grinstead, Ranmore Church in Dorking and St Margaret’s Church in Warnham have raised over £2,000.  These contributions make a huge difference to the work of the hospice and we are grateful to all churches who have chosen St Catherine’s as a nominated charity for one or several of their collections.

The choir at St Mary & St Peter’s Church in East Grinstead raised £290.47 for the hospice