St. Joseph’s Hospice is celebrating the 1000th draw of its fundraising lottery, which will take place on Friday 27th November.
The lottery was created in order to raise valuable funds for the hospice in Thornton. It has a weekly jackpot of £1,000, as well as other cash prizes, and the very first draw took place on 5th October 2001
Today, the St. Joseph’s Hospice Lottery has almost 6,000 active members and has raised over £3million for the hospice, which provides compassionate end of life care to over 200 patients in Merseyside every single year, as well as support and comfort for their families.
Maureen Roach (89) from Kirkdale, was one of the very first people to sign up to the lottery in 2001 and has also won the £1,000 jackpot. She said: “I have been a supporter of St. Joseph’s Hospice since Father O’Leary was alive. My sister-in-law died at the hospice and my husband and I used to visit her there. We joined the lottery as it felt like a lovely way to give something back to the charity for everything they did for our family.
“My husband and son both passed away a few years ago, although not at the hospice, but it gives me a lot of comfort to know that through the lottery I am helping other families and patients. I always used to go to the hospice at Christmas time to remember my family at Light up a Life and we always made dedications to them each Christmas.”
Maxine Armstrong, head of fundraising and lottery at St. Joseph’s Hospice, said: “Our lottery is such an important part of our fundraising strategy. It only costs £1 per week to play but it is so valuable because it provides us with a regular income which enables us to plan and budget for the future too so it has a really long-term benefit to the hospice.
“We have set ourselves the target of increasing the membership of our lottery to 10,000 people so, if you’d like to support a valuable local charity, please consider joining the hospice lottery. It’s great fun and you may even hit the jackpot!”
To sign up to the hospice Lottery or to make a dedication at Light up a Life call 0151 932 6044 or email fundraising@jospice.org.uk.