Last night we had a scholar meeting about what we wanted to do for our Rotary Project. Last week, Lindsey, Annie, Karin and I went to go visit a cancer treatment place called Maggie’s Centre. This isn’t your typical medicinal treatment facility – it deals more with the psychological implication that patients and their families go through when they find out themselves, or a loved one has cancer. But the facility is literally right next to the hospital to make everything about their process a convenience.
As soon as you walk in the door someone greets you with a cup or tea, or coffee, or water. They have a fully open kitchen and you are allowed to hang out as long as you like. They also have a nice little library full of reading materials on books about cancer. The space is light, open and airy – you couldn’t tell if it was a cold blustery day from being in there. They offer counseling sessions, and have up to 5 psychologists there, AND walk-ins are welcome. The whole point of this place is making themselves available. They also offer make-up and wig classes; teaching women how to take care of their wigs, and after the make-up session, the women leave with a make-up back of over £200 worth of make-up. They don’t cheapen anything for these women. Of course, men are welcome too and are offered the same services as the women, well – maybe not the make-up bags:)
Well, after presenting what we saw and learned, I’m happy to say that we will be putting on a fundraiser in late May/June to raise money for some basic needs of Maggie’s Centre. I’m really excited to get to be a part of this project. Maggie’s Centre works entirely off of private donations, so they are always in need of extra funding.
Rotary has this great program called Matching Grants. The Rotary Foundation matches .50 to ever dollar that is raised for Maggie’s Centre. Our target goal I think will be around £5000.
I’ll keep everyone updated on our progress of this project, and hopefully we can set up some type of online donation if any of you would like to help us out and contribute. But I’ll let everyone know if and when that gets set up.
Here are some pictures of the centre:
Outside Maggie's
Cosy Kitchen
Sitting Room
Hat Stand
Browse Timeline
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cousinJulia
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Fran Samaniego