L-R: Fundraising Heather Rutter and Andrea Toman from Tesco at the in-store book stall
As a local Charity, KEMP Hospice relies on local people fundraising and giving up their time to promote the work they do. One Wyre Forest resident has been doing just that and has, so far, helped raise over £12,000.
It all started 25 years ago for Heather Rutter when she wanted to raise £100 to buy a commemorative brick for the old KEMP premises in memory of her Father-In-Law who had been looked after by KEMP. She and her family were able to raise £349 and the fundraising continued.
Some years later Heather wanted to continue to support KEMP and decided to raise money by learning to swim and then swimming one mile. She raised over £1000 and soon got 3 generations of her family involved in a 3-mile swim relay. Just before her 60th birthday, Heather did a parachute jump for KEMP and then set herself the challenge of finding an ongoing way of raising money for the Mason Road charity.
She was working in Tesco in Kidderminster and had a load of books left over from a car boot sale. She was given permission to set up a table in the store to sell the books and things just took off. The table turned into one bookshelf, and then another and is now a permanent feature in the store. To date, the enterprise has raised over £5,600 for KEMP Hospice and continues to grow. Books and DVDs are donated and sold for £1 and around £1800 is raised each year. Heather has since retired but still goes in regularly and the staff team at Tescos carry on the good work and are very involved in the project.
Head of Fundraising, Cathy Sloan, said, “We’re so grateful for all that Heather has done over the years and thankful that the wonderful team at Tesco has continued to support the book stall. As a small charity with a local focus, we rely on people like Heather to raise valuable funds and every little really does help. We’re so appreciative of all she – and many others in the Wyre Forest – are doing to support us. Every penny raised is spent right here in the Wyre Forest providing support for patients, families and carers who are experiencing life-limiting illness and or going through bereavement.”
