‘Blue Skies Hospital Fund’ is the umbrella charity for Blackpool Victoria Hospital. The charity supports several initiatives throughout the hospital with donations for cystic fibrosis, haematology and the special care baby unit.
There are no less than 1,100 patients of all ages in hospital beds over the Christmas period. Some of these patients have no family or friends visiting with any festive cheer. ‘Give a Gift’ is an annual appeal by the charity to fund Christmas gifts for all the 1,100 patients on Christmas Day. This appeal has in the past had a corporate sponsor who regularly donated the largest proportion of the funds needed to purchase those gifts. Unfortunately, that sponsor had to pull out this year leaving a huge gap in the charity’s finances.
Lynn Peat (Community Fundraiser) from Blue Skies contacted Bob Marsden (Regional Charity Steward for the three Fylde Coast Groups) to see if the local Freemasons could possibly help. Bob then took this to each respective group chairman for their thoughts and received 100% backing from each of them.
Bob said: “Bearing in mind that every Fylde Coast Freemason, or their families will, at one time or another, have been assisted by Blackpool Victoria Hospital and taking into consideration that a lot of our lodges and chapters already donate to Blue Skies, I felt that we could help with this time-sensitive appeal before Christmas. Our original target was to raise £1,500. This was only a proportion of the total £5,000 needed.
Following a fantastic uptake of the appeal from lodges and chapters across all three groups in our region, the current running total is almost £4,000, with pledges and donations still coming in. This has resulted in the Fylde Coast Groups being credited as the ‘Main Sponsor’ of Give a Gift Appeal 2024, with our branding being printed on every single gift bag that is distributed across the hospital on Christmas Day. This has been coupled with a promotional video produced by the hospital featuring all three group chairmen and their group charity stewards giving that gift.”
Bob Marsden continued: “This not only exemplifies the great work that we do for local charities in our region, but is also a stunning example of that important community engagement when it is most needed.”