How will National Declutter Week help hospices?

Storage.co.uk recently announced that it will be sponsoring a repeat of 2010’s successful National Declutter Week, running this year between 7 and 18 March.

As part of National Declutter Week, we want people to hold clearouts at their homes and offices, and to donate the things they want to get rid of (provided that they are in saleable condition, of course!) to charity shops – particularly those run by hospices.

Some self storage centres already have relationships with their local hospice, and we’re hoping others will be forged as part of this event.

Ideally, self storage companies can agree to help out hospices by lending them some of the commodity they specialise in – space – to help process all the extra donations that National Declutter Week will bring in.

Something people might want to know in advance of National Declutter Week is how the things they donate will help the hospices to do their valuable work. Here are some ideas from two hospices that have been in touch with Storage.co.uk.

Lindsey Lodge Hospice, Scunthorpe

Lindsey Lodge Hospice in Scunthorpe provides a good example of the costs involved with helping people reach the end of the lives with as much dignity as possible.

They run a total of eight charity shops spread around North Lincolnshire, one of which is shared with Dove House Hospice in Hull. These include All Dressed Up, a boutique-style fashion-only outlet located in Scunthorpe itself, as well as a dedicated second-hand bookshop in Ashby.

These shops fulfil a vital role in generating funds for the hospice, as in order to meet all its costs, Lindsey Lodge has to generate £3.50 per minute, which enables them to help 400 people each month.

The costs of delivering hospice care are significant for the hospice. A patient’s meals for a whole week come to £50, while £250 is needed to provide a day’s nursing care for each individual.

Clearly the shops would benefit from having some extra stock to help them reach these targets. As Mel Banham, their Head of Fundraising, told Storage.co.uk, “Every donation helps Lindsey Lodge Hospice to raise the money needed to provide special care and support for people in their time of need.”

St Peter’s Hospice, Bristol

Another good example of how hospice charity shops work comes from St Peter’s Hospice in Bristol, the only hospice caring for adults with life-limiting illnesses in that area.

Astonishingly, their network of nearly 50 charity shops puts out 10,000 newly-donated items for sale every single day. As they are keen to point out, nothing goes to waste. They try to sell as much as possible directly to the public, but items which are unsuitable for general sale are sent to a recycling company who process them and pay St Peter’s by the kilo.

Interestingly, the highest-quality items are sent on to shops in Eastern Europe where they are resold, while lower grade objects tend to go to Africa and Pakistan. Bras, official football shirts, silk scarves and track suits are all especially valuable in Africa.

In total, St Peter’s Hospice raises a total of over £1.8 million per year through its shops, of which over a third comes from the recycling of textiles mentioned above.

This shows that anything people want to donate as part of National Declutter Week can help the hospices do their valuable work – even if it’s been found lurking at the back of your wardrobe.