Charities ensured support from firm
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CANCER patients and others facing serious illness in Highland and Moray have been ensured some extra support, thanks to NFU Mutual Agents staff in Elgin and Inverness.
The local agents nominated Marie Curie and Highland Hospice, to receive a donation of more than £6450 each from a national £2 million Agency Giving Fund launched by NFU Mutual.
NFU Mutual, the UK’s leading rural insurer, announced this £2 million fund in February to help local frontline charities during 2021. This follows £1 million of support delivered in 2020, which helped charities across many sectors to keep their life-changing services going throughout the pandemic.
Highland Hospice will use its donation to continue providing valuable end of life support to service users both in the Hospice itself and in the wider Highland community.
Highland Hospice corporate fundraiser Karen Duff said: “We’re enormously thankful to the Elgin and Inverness NFU Mutual for nominating our charity. The money has really helped us to provide important end-of-life care for those who need it, particularly those who have been left vulnerable or lonely as a result of the pandemic. We have been able to sustain our befriending service, Helping Hands, throughout the pandemic – and have launched our social care programme, Sunflower Care at Home. We are also leading on End of Life Care Together, a project which brings many care partners under one umbrella to ensure that people in the Highlands are receiving the best possible care package in their final months of life. The importance of this has really been highlighted by the effects of Covid-19.
"Thank you so much to NFU Mutual for selecting Highland Hospice. Your support means so much.”
Vonnie Stevenson, Marie Curie community fundraiser for Highlands and Islands, Moray and Banff, said: ‘We are enormously thankful to the Elgin ans Inverness agency of NFU Mutual for nominating Marie Curie to receive such a generous donation. The funds will help us to continue care for and support patients and families at a really difficult and emotional time.
“Now more than ever before we need to make sure that patients get the right care, at the right time, in the place of their choice. We also need continue to support the whole family when dealing with a bereavement and personal grief. Coping with a bereavement has become even more challenging for families but our bereavement support services, manned by 40 trained volunteers, is extremely helpful and I would encourage anyone needing support or even just a chat, to visit the website.”
Malcolm Mackenzie, business partner of NFU Mutual Elgin and Inverness Agency, said: “Covid-19 continues to have a huge impact on everybody, including our customers and their local communities. Marie Curie ans Highland Hospice have been making a wonderful difference to our community during these challenging times, and we feel extremely proud to hear how our support has made an impact.”
