CUDECA’S URGENT APPEAL FOR HELP

The CUDECA Cancer Care Hospice in Arroyo de la Miel, is urgently in need of volunteers to help in the patient transport welfare programme, where volunteers accompany patients from their home to the Hospice Centre, or to hospital or the health centre.

The welfare volunteer will be a person who will accompany, listen, help and give support to patients and their family.  

Volunteers will attend a course given by the professional staff at Cudeca.  They are informed of the knowledge and skills that are necessary to carry out their role.

If you would like to help by becoming a transport welfare volunteer, please contact Inma Ruíz, who is responsible for the Volunteer Programme (Tel:  952 56 49 10 or voluntariado@cudeca.org )

The Marbella Rotary Club donates 10.000€ in aid of Cudeca 

Hotel Puente Romano, 27th May 2008.

Last night, the Marbella Rotary Club President, Mr. Carlos Zabala, presented Cudeca with a cheque for 10,000€.  Rocío Torres Mancera, PR & Fundraising Manager was delighted to accept the generous donation on behalf of all the team at the Hospice.

The funds raised originated from the Charity Cuban Dinner held at the Marbella Golf and Country Club on Saturday 19th April. 

Cudeca Cancer Care Hospice is an NGO offering specialist palliative care to patients suffering from advanced non-curable cancer within the province of Málaga.  As an ONG charity, they are totally self-funding and it is with grateful appreciation to the warm hearted support they receive from generous people like the Rotary Club that during the years we have been able to complete the Hospice Centre and to care for more than 5,000 patients at the end of their life.

The 10,000€ raised at the dinner will go towards saving the in-patient unit from it’s current financial déficit of 600.000€, part of the 2 million Euro annual expenditure that the Hospice faces every year.  Since the In-patient Unit opened in 2006, Cudeca has struggled to cover the high maintenance costs and is under threat of closure by 2009 due to lack of economic support.

For more information on our Calendar of Events 2008 or our “Become a Benefactor” campaign,  please telephone the Hospice on 952 56 49 10 or e-mail cudeca@cudeca.org.

HELP US SAVE THE IN-PATIENT UNIT!

Dear Friend,

I am writing to you collectively because I am sure that you would wish to unite towards helping your hospice regardless of personal commercial considerations.

You will no doubt be aware that in Cudeca Hospice we are facing a serious financial crisis due to the high cost of the special care, given without charge, to patients in our In-Patient Unit.  Since we opened this unit in July 2005, the donations received do not cover the expense of running this service.  In 2007 the deficit was 600,000€ and unless there is a turn-around in income we will have no alternative but to close this important part of our palliative care programme at the end of this year.

The total number of patients that we have treated to the end of 2007 is 5,000. We have taken this figure as our target to attract 5,000 annual donors giving 10€ (or more) a month.  This may sound an optimistic vision, but Cudeca evolved from such optimism plus hard work and dedication by hundreds of supporters.

Through the years I have come to know most people in the media field, either through the Press Club or personal interviews.  Our success has been achieved because of the public awareness you have given to our project.   I know how proud you are of the success of Cudeca and I am asking if you can find free space to print one of the 3 ads attached.  If you can give us one hit it will be great, if you can repeat in future issues it would be fantastic.  If you can help it would be nice to add  your name - XXXXX Support Cudeca.

Whatever you can do will be deeply appreciated, especially by the patients and families who may be facing the loss of this special service.

The other programmes of Cudeca will continue, Home Care, Day Car, Counselling, Psychological and Bereavement support, etc.

We will be issuing progress reports on this campaign and in the meantime send our heartfelt thanks for your help.

Sincerely,
Joan Hunt, OBE
President & Founder,
Cudeca Cancer Care Hospice.

Please click here to download information and sign up form to become a donor.

Previous Cudeca Reports

Signing of La Caixa Agreement – Cudeca Cancer Care Hospice 

3rd April 2008

The signing of the La Caixa Foundation agreement took place this morning, Thursday 3rd April. La Caixa has agreed to collaborate by supporting the “Volunteers of the Cudeca Charity Shops 2008” project by donating a generous 7.500 Euros.  This project forms part of Fundación la Caixa’s charity and social initiatives programme 2007.

The event took place in the chapel of the Hospice centre, situated on Avenida del Cosmos s/n de Arroyo de la Miel, Benalmádena.

Representing the Fundación La Caixa was Mr. Manuel Gallego Cañabate, Fuengirola office Director.  Representing Cudeca were; Joan Hunt OBE, President and Founder; and Rafael Olalla, Financial Director; and Inmaculada Ruiz, Volunteers Programme´s Coordinator.
The aim of the project, is to raise awareness of hard work carried out by over 300 volunteers in our 12 Cudeca charity shops and to keep track of the new developments of each individual shop, and in doing so, will motivate the existing volunteers and encourage others to join.
The specific objectives are as follows:

• To increase the number of volunteers in the 12 Charity Shops, by means of a specific campaign for each shop, taking into consideration their situation and the public they attract.  Information in the way of brochures and posters will be prepared and the local media will be contacted.
• To provide philosophy, history and objective training of Fundación Cudeca, in concept of the voluntary work that is carried out by the Charity Shops. This will be carried out by the charity shop controllers, the Coordinator of the Volunteer Programme and the Director of the Nursing Dept. by making personal visits to the shops.
• To motivate the volunteers with specific activities so that their work is acknowledged, and organise four meetings for this same purpose.
• To improve the charity shop installations.
• To visit other charity shops in the country in order to exchange views and methods of how to successfully run a shop.    

Previous Cudeca Reports

To all Volunteers and Friends of Cudeca:

Following a presentation made at Cudeca Hospice Centre on 27th February, to inform our sponsors of the progress that we have made over the past 15 years, a great deal of publicity has been given to the announcement of our need for more funding to meet the high cost of our In-patient Unit.

The opening of our In-Patient Unit in 2005 with an availability of 10 beds greatly increased the annual cost of the high quality care offered by the specialist medical team of Cudeca.  The income from our Hospice Charity shops, donations, fundraising events, etc. has not been sufficient to meet the extra costs of this unit.  At the end of 2007 we are faced with a 600,000€ shortfall.

If this situation continues we feel we will have no alternative but to close the Unit.  If this hard and unpalatable decision has to be taken, we want to assure you that it will in no way effect the care of patients in our Home Care Programme and in the Day Care Centre.  These important care areas of Cudeca will continue.

We are investigating every possible means to avoid closing the In-Patient Unit.  I have written a personal letter to the family of our patients asking for help.  A small annual donation will make a great difference to our life expectancy – 1€ per week will equal 50€ a year, multiplied by 10 donors is 500€ or by 100 donors is 5,000€.   It is the QUANTITY of regular donors that will make all the difference to the fate of our important and much needed In-Patient Unit.


We will keep you informed of our strategy for retaining the In-Patient Unit.  In the meantime, once again, we thank everyone for your hard work and support.  Together we have achieved so much and I feel confident that the community, and hopefully the private and public sectors, will make a warm response to our call for help to turn our finances around.
Joan Hunt, OBE
President & Founder