Ripon people are being asked to help support seriously ill children by volunteering at Martin House Children’s Hospice’s charity shop in the city.
Martin House, which cares for babies, children and young people with life-limiting conditions, opened its shop on Fishergate in December last year.
Now it needs more volunteers to help it continue raising money to care for families across the region.
Heather Griffiths, volunteer co-ordinator, said:
Our shop in Ripon had only been open for a month when we were forced to close due to the third lockdown, so we haven’t had the chance to build up a pool of volunteers to help us there.
It’s been so well supported by customers when we’ve been able to open, but we really do need more volunteers, so we can keep serving our customers and supporting families.
Martin House has 13 charity shops across the region, which together raise more than £1 million to support the hospice. However, they have had to shut for months at a time since the pandemic started.
Heather added:
Our first priority is to ensure our volunteers and staff are safe at all times, so we have robust measures in place to protect them. This includes screens, hand sanitising and limits on the number of customers allowed in the shop at any time.
It’s important to remember how rewarding volunteering can be, as it can be a very social activity, while at the same time helping to support a local charity.
Anyone interested in volunteering can call into the Ripon shop, email volunteering@martinhouse.org.uk, or visit www.martinhouse.org.uk/volunteering
