KPMG Volunteer Team Digs Deep for Hospice
July 12, 2010
A team of green-fingered volunteers from business advisory firm KPMG have been making a big difference at Birmingham St Mary’s Hospice.
The group of nine women from the firm’s UK People Function, or HR department, descended from across the UK on the Selly Park-based Hospice for a day of digging, weeding and tidying up the grounds.
Their commendable efforts have enabled Birmingham St Mary’s to spend more of its funds on direct patient care and ensure that visitors are greeted with a pleasant environment when they arrive at the Hospice.
The voluntary work is part of a company-wide initiative by KPMG to support charities across the UK.
Team Leader Nicky Thomas, who is based at KPMG’s offices in Snow Hill, Birmingham, was delighted to be involved with the Hospice.
“Some of the team know people who have experienced the care of Birmingham St Mary’s, so we’re really delighted to help out. And it’s nice to know that what we’re doing will help to benefit patients and their families”.
“The girls involved have really enjoyed themselves, although I think we’ve all discovered a few muscles we didn’t know we had,” she said.
Birmingham St Mary’s Hospice Head of Fundraising Caroline Taylor thanked the KPMG team for their hard work.
“Volunteers are vital to the Hospice as they perform key roles and help us keep costs down. We really appreciate the team’s gardening work and hope we can continue to build on the excellent relationship we have established with KPMG,” Caroline said.
KPMG’s volunteering activity was facilitated by CSV Employee Volunteering, which specialises in providing tailor-made assistance with a wide range of corporate volunteering activities.
It forms part of KPMG's Corporate Social Responsibility programme, in which groups of KPMG people are able to take part in a team challenge and spend a day in the community sharing their skills. Last year, 124 Team Challenges took place, with over 2,000 KPMG people taking part.
Employee involvement in local community projects is a cost effective way of ‘employee teambuilding’ and management training which has been proven to improve the performance of companies while leaving a lasting legacy in the local community.
Since its launch in 1979, Birmingham St Mary’s Hospice has cared for tens of thousands of people with life-limiting illnesses, such as cancer, motor neurone disease and MS.
With around 52 percent of the Hospice’s budget reliant on public goodwill, community fundraising is crucial to ensuring its highly specialised services can continue to be offered to the people of Birmingham and Sandwell.
In addition to a 25-bed Inpatient Unit, Birmingham St Mary’s boasts a 20-place Day Hospice and provides community care to people who wish to stay in their own homes.
The Hospice also supports relatives with bereavement preparation, physiotherapy tuition and counselling in addition to many other services.
Annual running costs stand at £6.3 million, with around £1 million being raised in the Hospice’s shops and £2.7 million via community fundraising events. The remainder comes from the NHS.
Birmingham St Mary’s nurses, often referred to by patients and relatives as ‘angels’, are renowned for going that extra mile to ensure people with terminal illnesses enjoy the best possible quality of life.
Pic caption: (back row from left) Emma van de Molen, Nicola Welch, Gillian McGillivray, Joanne Davidson, Tracey Stead, Linda Field, (front row from left) Shelley Aggarwal, Elizabeth McCoy, Nicky Thomas
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