Yahoo News 'One last push' as Zoe's Place needs £500k in next five days
Around £500,000 is required over the next five days to save Zoe's Place. The children's hospice on Yew Tree Lane in West Derby provides end-of-life and palliative care to babies and children but news emerged on October 7 that it was set to close its doors for good.
The bosses at the charity, which also has hospices in Middlesbrough and Coventry, had said that they had run out of options to fund a new home for the Liverpool facility, with the lease on the current site set to run out next year. Distraught staff were told they had just 30 days before their jobs would be gone.
The Liverpool ECHO has been part of a city-wide campaign to raise £5m in order to save the charity from closure. After an intervention from West Derby MP Ian Byrne, it was decided that there was a chance to save the hospice, but that it would require a £5m fundraising campaign in just 30 days, before the consultation period on the staff's jobs ran out.
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People from Liverpool and beyond have done incredible things to raise money to help the fundraising drive. Local celebrities like comedian Adam Rowe, UFC fighter Paddy 'The Baddy' Pimblett and singer Jamie Webster were among the first to get behind the campaign and were joined by big names including former Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard.
The biggest boost to the campaign arrived last week when it was revealed that Home Bargains' owner TJ Morris pledged £2.5m to the cause, meaning the final total is now in sight. The overall fundraising target stands at £6.4m, with £1.4m already raised before the campaign to raise an extra £5m began. At the time of writing, there is £5.9m on the fundraiser, meaning around £500,000 is required before November 9.
A Zoe's Place spokesperson said: "We've managed to raise a phenomenal 91% of our total target of £6.4m, which we were £5m short of when Ian Byrne MP stepped in to support our campaign and prevent our closure.
"We still have around £500,000 to raise in the next 5 days to achieve our goal. There is still money being counted and collected over the next few days and fundraising initiatives happening all around Liverpool and beyond - so we are hopeful of reaching our target, but we're not quite there yet.
"We really hope to update with good news soon and will keep you posted. One last push will really help to get us there.
"We are so grateful for everyone's support and we're still so astonished at how Liverpool and beyond have come together for us in our hour of need."
The ECHO reported earlier today that Mr Byrne met with Zoe's Place trustees again yesterday for what he said were 'very positive' talks about the ongoing campaign and the plans for a new structure to run the Liverpool-based hospice going forward. He urged locals to dig deep in these final few days.
The MP told the ECHO: "We now have five days to go to save Zoe's Place. We have seen unbelievable efforts from so many people in this campaign, it has been amazing to see, this has got us near to where we need to be.
"We just need everyone to keep going, straining every sinew because we are now so close to making the new Zoe's Place in Liverpool a reality."
