In many ways, 2019 was a good year – a year where we managed to raise above the many challenges non-profit organisations face, a year where our community rallied behind us and got us through some difficult times.
For that we want to say thank you. Your unwavering support, your commitment and loyalty, but mostly your belief in us, is what got us through, and is what keeps us going.
We started 2019 with a vision that we would realise our dream of building our extension to the in-patient unit, and adding the adolescent section. A parkhome was donated but sadly proved to be structurally unsafe due to rust damage.
The project had to be abandoned, despite so many efforts from different donors to try to make it happen.
We want to assure them, as we want to assure our community, that our vision remains intact – we will continue to explore possibilities to extend.
In May this year, we then found ourselves at a further crossroad, where we were faced with the threatening reality of possibly having to close our doors.
The main reason – a sudden and dramatic increase in patients who were not able to make a financial contribution to the care we provided. Our policy is clear: we will provide our services to everyone, whether there is a financial contribution or not.
So we turned to our community and asked for assistance. We launched the One-Day-One-Patient Campaign and experienced an outpour of love and support, and genuine concern from this community so much so that we managed to keep our doors open.
We could then focus on the dream of opening a learning centre and again, with the help of our community, community leaders and community organisations, we opened our Centre for Palliative Learning.
We successfully launched The Club 2000 fund-raising programme, and thanks to various other fundraising initiatives, our financial situation has stabilised.
We are deeply grateful to our community, our precious volunteers and staff, for their support and prayers.
It would be remiss if I did not thank The Steel Magnolias – Stepping Stone Hospice’s management team – who without exception took on an ever bigger workload to ensure the continued level of service and sustainability under trying circumstances.
The heart of Stepping Stone Hospice will always be our patients and their families.
Thank you to each member of the clinical team who continues to hold our patients with the gentle loving care that simply goes beyond comprehension.
To our amazing staff – thank you for trusting management when it seemed that our world was collapsing around us.
Doing the work, we realise that time is a precious commodity. Time is something our patients don’t have. We do our very best to give them quality of life.
On behalf of the management and staff of Stepping Stone Hospice, I would like to thank our amazing volunteers. They assist daily at every level, spending time with patients, assisting in the shop, events and answering phones.
Their dedication and selfless commitment enables us to fulfill our mission: to enhance the quality of life for our patients and their loved ones touched by a terminal illness.
Their acts of compassion allow us to provide our patients comfort, that makes a difference at a very critical point in their lives.
Many of us will be filled with profound sadness for our loved ones who will not be with us as we remember the Child who was born in a stable. Honour their memory with a simple act of kindness.
When shopping for Christmas presents, please remember us and pop into our Charity Shop for bargain gifts. We are in the Stat Building – 4 Fore Street, Alberton.
What will next year hold for us? I honestly don’t know. But what I know is that Stepping Stone Hospice has the most phenomenal team of staff and volunteers and we are ready for whatever 2020 holds with our community at our side.
On behalf of me, my family, the management team and staff of this beautiful organisation,thank you again.
May you all truly experience the rich blessings of Christmas and may 2020 be filled with good health, joy, laughter and time….
Tersia Burger, CEO
