Dorothy House is celebrating this Hospice Care Week, as its Tulip Funds have raised more than a million pounds for patient care.


Dorothy House established the Tulip Funds in 2005 as a way of providing families and friends with a means of remembering a loved one while also supporting the continued care given to patients and their carers by the hospice.
 

Dorothy House now has 367 funds remembering loved ones cared for by the hospice, which have collectively raised more than £1m for the charity.
 

Tulip Funds can be created in the name of a person to be remembered and each time friends or family make a donation or undertake any fundraising for the charity it can be attributed to that person’s memory.
 

David Keogh, whose wife Sue was cared for by Dorothy House before her death in November 2011, has been raising money in her memory through a Tulip Fund, established by her friends and colleagues in Jobcentre Plus, where she was a manager.
 

He said: “Towards the end of Sue’s illness her condition was so poor that she couldn’t have visitors, but her friends and colleagues wanted to do something – so they organised fundraising activities for the hospice in her honour.
 

“They did all sorts of things from slave auctions to cake sales, and raised around £3,000 while she was still alive. It was one of the few things that gave her pleasure and she was so overwhelmed when she saw how much they’d raised.”
 

Following Mrs Keogh’s death, the couple’s friends and colleagues continued fundraising in her memory, organising events such as sponsored silences and Cotswold walks as well as a sponsored Zumbathon last month, which raised £9k.
 

These fundraising efforts have taken Sue’s Tulip Fund to more than £17,000 and Mr Keogh thinks this is an incredible figure to have raised.
 

He said: “There’s lots of benefits of raising funds for Dorothy House but from a personal point of view the Tulip Fund can be very therapeutic. I had a focus, something to aim for and I’m in far better shape now than if I hadn’t taken on that challenge.“
 

Dorothy House, director of fundraising and communications Katrina Sudbury, said: “It’s fantastic the Tulip Funds have reached this milestone. So many of our supporters donate to us because they want to give something back to the hospice for all the care they’ve received.

"Their help means we can continue to care when it counts – helping many more families.”
For more information about Dorothy House’s Tulip Funds, visit www.dorothyhouse.co.uk/the-tulip-fund.