Prospect Hospice puts temporary brakes on donation stations

By Barrie Hudson - 7 July 2020

CommunityCharity

One of Swindon's best-loved charities has been overwhelmed by public kindness.

  • Some of the thousands of items received by Prospect Hospice since donation stations reopened

    Some of the thousands of items received by Prospect Hospice since donation stations reopened

Prospect Hospice set up donation stations in Swindon and Highworth last month for the first time since March.

In just three weeks it has received thousands of items - so many that its shops and distribution centre are full to the brim.

The charity has therefore decided to pause donations.

Victoria Canavan, head of retail at Prospect Hospice said: “When we opened our donation stations on 15 June we had no idea how well they would be supported, and we’ve seen such incredible support for the hospice over the last few weeks that we simply cannot take any more at the moment.

“Because of this we have had to make the difficult decision to temporarily pause our acceptance of donations at this time.”

The hospice distribution centre team is now working to sort through all the donations received so far and get these out to the charity’s 18 shops around Swindon and north east Wiltshire as they begin to re-open over the coming weeks.

They have thousands of items to sort through, this is being done in line with Government safety guidelines which include placing all donated items in quarantine for 72 hours.

Ms Canavan said: “We will let supporters know as soon as we are able to accept pre-loved goods again and thank everyone for their patience in keeping hold of these. Thank you as well to everyone who has already donated so far for your extraordinary support of Prospect Hospice at this time.”

To find out more about hospice shops, visit https://www.prospect-hospice.net/retail/our-shops/.

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