Break out your jolliest jumpers to help hospice
Local Welsh charity City Hospice is encouraging everyone – and their pets – to don their festive gear for the Jolly Jumper campaign this Christmas. Sarah Brazendale reports
IT’S time to get your jolly jumpers out – in aid of a local charity.
City Hospice is encouraging everyone (and their pets!) to don their festive gear for the Jolly Jumper campaign this Christmas
The new campaign is encouraging everyone to dig out their festive outfits this Christmas in order to bring a little joy and raise some much-needed funds for the hospice.
To take part, simply wear a “jolly” jumper on a day of your choice, add some festive headgear if you wish and even get your pets involved in the celebrations.
Local schools and workplaces are invited to get out their jolly jumpers as a way of brightening up their surroundings over the festive season. And although many offices are sitting empty this year, workers can still do the same over a zoom call with their colleagues.
City Hospice needs to raise £2m a year to provide the level of care it offers.
As Cardiff’s local hospice, it provides specialist, home-based palliative care to 550 patients at any one time.
It also provides nursing and essential care to people throughout the city who are living with life-limiting and terminal illness, such as cancer, dementia, motor-neurone disease and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
Amy-Claire, a patient at City Hospice, is looking forward to celebrating Jolly Jumper Day. The 25-year-old has been under palliative and hospice care since her childhood as she lives with a complex condition, which includes suffering from seizures, spasms and chronic pain that requires regular palliative care.
She said: “I absolutely love Christmas; Christmas music, Christmas films, Christmas nights out, Christmas food, and Christmas jumpers! Why not wear one this year to support this amazing cause?
“City Hospice will continue supporting me and my family over Christmas; it’ll be sad not being able to show them my Christmas outfits like I usually do.
“Christmas this year will be hard for me and my family; we’re used to having a house full of people to celebrate seeing the end of another year. But we’ll still be celebrating.
“Without the support of City Hospice, my life and the lives of my loved ones would be very different, and far poorer. City Hospice allows me to plan for a good death whilst doing everything we can to ensure I live a good life.
“It’s a truly remarkable place full of truly remarkable people, doing an incredible job during especially tough times that supports and enables people like me to live our lives.
“Please help such an amazing service to continue helping people like me this Christmas.”
Liz Andrews, chief executive of City Hospice, said: “Never before have we so desperately needed to start getting jolly for Christmas as we have this year.
“Christmas jumper days have become popular in recent years, and we’re really encouraging people to support their local hospice when organising theirs this year.
“We’ve even put together a Christmas quiz for colleagues and families unable to celebrate together physically, as well as festive recipes and other fundraising ideas.
“It’s really simple to get involved, and will hopefully lift people’s spirits this year, all while raising the funds we so desperately need to continue to provide the essential care we provide.”
Jolly Jumper Day 2020 is sponsored by Western Power Distribution.
For more information, to download your Jolly Jumpers pack, poster and quiz, and to donate to the campaign, visit cityhospice.org.uk/jolly-jumpers.