Hope House Children's Hospice awarded £108,380 by BBC Children in Need
Hope House Children's Hospice is celebrating being awarded a grant of £108,380 by BBC Children in Need.
The grant, paid over three years, will go towards the hospice's Sibling Support Service, which gives help and support to the brothers and sisters of children who use the hospice.
Specialist staff help the siblings to adapt to the changes in their lives caused by living with a brother or sister with a life-threatening condition. Each young person has a bespoke programme of therapeutic emotional or bereavement support to help them process their feelings or cope with their loss.
The BBC Children in Need grant will pay for exciting trips and activities as part of the Sibling Support Service, including a bush-craft activity day, trips to the zoo and team-building challenges such as raft-building and zip-wires at a local activity centre.
The grant will also fund group project work around friendship-making, a film and animation project and creative music workshops.
Hope House Head of Community Care, Jane Trevor said: "We are thrilled that BBC Children in Need is helping us to support brothers and sisters of terminally ill children across the region.
"The therapeutic activities funded by the grant can help enable children to avoid emotional difficulties in later life. Bringing siblings together also helps children and young people to realise that they are not alone and this mutual support reduces their isolation.
"Hope House provides this support for siblings for as long as they need help, which can be for the duration of their childhood."
BBC Children in Need relies on the generosity and creativity of thousands of supporters and fundraisers who raise millions of pounds for the charity every year. To date the UK public has raised over £1 billion for children and young people facing disadvantage across the UK.
