A lot has happened in the past year within our charity. We have faced a number of challenges but also encouragement and inspiration from the community and volunteers. The loyalty shown by our dedicated volunteers, who have staffed our op shops and maintained the face of the charity with the public, is greatly appreciated by the Board. We want to thank you and express our sincerest gratitude for your contributions.
The re-opening of the Tewantin Op Shop is due to the huge effort of our local volunteers. The public clearly welcomed the opportunity to support the charity through shopping at the Tewantin Shop. To bring you up to date with what the Board has decided let me summarise a fact sheet we have produced.
It is the Board’s intention to reopen a Hospice that is loving and caring and provides our patients with a serene and peaceful place for them to spend their last days. A reopened Hospice will support the whole of the Sunshine Coast and Hinterland community as it has done for the last four years.
A forward financial plan for the future operation of the Sunshine Hospice has confirmed that Government support to a similar level to that provided to Toowoomba Hospice (and other Queensland Hospices) will be necessary to ensure that the Sunshine Hospice is financially sustainable into the foreseeable future.
All other hospices in Queensland are certified and accredited to Queensland and National Standards and have private hospital licences and consequently get State Government support along with Department of Veterans Affairs and Private Health insurance contributions where that is possible.
To ensure regular income Sunshine Hospice Ltd needs to continue operating our opportunity shops. Donations are also very important to the Hospice’s continued operations but by their very nature are irregular so a source of more regular income is needed.
All monies received from the shops are currently supporting the building fund to ensure the construction of a family friendly hospice on the northern Sunshine Coast The Board is currently examining two possible sites for construction of a Hospice in Noosa Shire.
Other events include our continuing discussions with other charities to build a hospice on the Sunshine Coast. Finally, we want you to know that the equipment from the hospice is now securely in storage. Similarly, the charity's revenues are safely in the bank and will contribute to the building of our purpose built facility.
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year
Frank Lewins on behalf of the Board, Sunshine Hospice Ltd
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