retirement villages knitting blankets for us, and a lot of people write letters to patients that we put in the gift packs. People are so kind, the community does so much to help and it’s things like that which make people undergoing cancer treatment feel like there’s someone who cares about them. “T at said, we can’t always rely on fundraising and donations,
times are tough for everyone and most charities are having to fi nd new ways to raise money. Having the shop and two cafés makes an enormous diff erence to us and to the people who use them. “Firstly, we’ve got a charity shop with a twist, where everything is new and unused and available at aff ordable prices. And they’re not just new, they are items that would probably go to landfi ll otherwise, perfectly good items but because they are discontinued or returns, they are surplus to requirements.”
Some donations, including the likes of coffee beans and
quality teas, fi nd their way into T e Lewis Foundation’s cafes at the Northampton Museum and the Elgar Community Centre in Upton. All proceeds go into the charity so it can continue to make a diff erence to so many cancer patients’ lives. “When it became clear how important the gift packs were to
patients we began to get more and more enquiries and we now deliver to hospitals in Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, Lincolnshire, Cambridgeshire and Stoke,” said Lorraine. “T e hospitals let us know what they want and we make up the packs and deliver on a regular basis. We have also made special deliveries when we are asked to provide emergency essentials for someone who needs them. “T e support we get from the nurses and staff is fantastic. During
Covid we thought we’d have to stop, but we found a way to make it work by isolating items for enough time that they were safe and the staff would take delivery and distribute them for us. “We saw from our own experience how diffi cult life can be when
you’re in hospital with cancer. It means that person can’t work, and there’s extra expense for their families in terms of travel and time off , and all at a time when you spend a lot of hours on your own and feeling vulnerable. “I don’t think we could have imagined, when we started, where
The Lewis Foundation would end up. I think we’d have been terrifi ed, to be honest, but it’s clear how much it’s needed. One of the donations that really pushed us on in the early days was money left to us by a patient who had used our services before he died. T at was when we realised that we are making a diff erence and that what we do matters to people.”
Find out more about T e Lewis Foundation at
www.thelewisfoundation.co.uk
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