Get your paws on a St Giles Hospice lottery bear
Howard Lake | 19 February 2008 | News
Players signing up to a year’s membership of the St Giles Hospice Lottery can claim an ‘instant win’ with the charity’s new 2008 bear.
The hospice, which cares for local people living with cancer and other serious illnesses, will give a bear to everyone who signs up, or renews their membership to its fundraising lottery for a full 12 months.
Giles is a traditional style bear, standing 30cm tall, with a cute expression and trusting brown eyes. He sports a smart maroon ribbon bow and on his soft foot pads carries the words “St Giles 2008”.
He is the ninth bear in the St Giles series. Each year a new bear is produced and regular players can continue to grow their collection of unique little bears.
Their popularity has helped to make the weekly draw one of the most successful hospice lotteries in the UK. Last year it raised £1,004,000 to support the charity’s work.
Richard Simmonite, St Giles Hospice Promotions’ Commercial Manager, said: “The highly collectible St Giles bears are our way of saying ‘thank you’ to our regular players, who provide us with much-needed support throughout the year.
“The hospice lottery enables St Giles to continue to offer its high-quality caring services to local people – and by signing up for a year in advance, players can claim their bear and also help to keep down administration costs so the charity benefits even more.
“Sadly, we still don’t have sufficient resources to care for all those who need our help, and that’s why we always welcome new lottery players to take part.”
Playing the St Giles Hospice lottery costs £1 per week – that’s £52 for the full year in advance. Each week more than £3,000 in prizes is awarded, with one lucky winner scooping a £2,000 jackpot. Even if they don’t win, players can be sure all the proceeds are going to a worthwhile cause.
At no cost to the hospice all lottery players receive a free discount card. This can be used at more than 100 shops and outlets across the region and can give the player a discount of typically 10% off.
Further information about the lottery or claiming a bear is available by calling 0845 370 65 80 or by visiting
www.stgileshospice.com/lottery.
St Giles Hospice is a registered charity offering high-quality medical and nursing care for people with cancer and other serious illnesses, as well as providing support for their families and carers.
Patients come from across the hospice’s catchment area, which ranges from Ashby de la Zouch and Atherstone in the east, to Cannock and Walsall in the west – and from Burton and Uttoxeter in the north, to Sutton Coldfield and Coleshill in the south.
Care is offered at the hospice’s facilities in Sutton Coldfield and Whittington between Lichfield and Tamworth, or in patients’ own homes across the region.
St Giles spends over £5million every year providing its specialist services. With just a third of this funded by the Government, the registered charity relies heavily on donations and fundraising initiatives such as the hospice lottery.
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.