How one mum used her own grief to help other cancer parents
After the loss of her daughter to cancer, Ann Grady became a CLIC Sargent volunteer. Read her inspiring story in our blog.
Who are Young Lives vs Cancer?
Young Lives vs Cancer is the UK’s leading charity for children and young people, providing essential support for young patients and their families and helping them to find the strength to face cancer and everything it has thrown at them.
From a day-to-day helping hand, to vital financial support and offering families a home away from home to be closer to their loved one’s hospital, Young Lives vs Cancer are dedicated to making sure that a child doesn’t face cancer alone.
Our Partnership
We partnered with Young Lives vs Cancer (formerly CLIC Sargent) in January 2017, following a colleague majority vote, and have since raised £16 million to date. Now in our fifth and final year we've set a new target to raise a whopping £17 million by January 2022.
The money we've raised has helped to:
Originally set out as a three year partnership, back in 2019, our colleagues chose to extend for an extra year in order to fund a brand new Home from Home in Manchester. Following the Covid-19 pandemic, we extended our partnership for a fifth and final year, and all of the money raised this year is going towards the new Home from Home, Jack’s House.
How we've raised £16,000,000
From fancy dress, to sky dives, to sponging staff members in store, it's safe to say we've had fun raising valuable funds to support Young Lives vs Cancer. We've even launched campaigns including Every Pack Gives Back. Read more about how we've reached our current fundraising total of £16,000,000.
Support during the COVID-19 pandemic
The strength of the partnership has been highlighted this past year more than ever. At the start of the pandemic, before the furlough scheme had been announced by the government, CLIC Sargent closed their charity shops. We stepped in almost immediately and offered all Young Lives vs Cancer charity shop staff retail roles in their local Morrisons stores.
In March 2020, Young Lives vs Cancer Social Workers worried about families who couldn’t go to the shops and were running out of food. We stepped in and stores started delivering food directly to families’ doors, the start of Morrisons Doorstep Delivery service. Stores also give regular gifts of hampers and much needed products to keep Young Lives vs Cancer’s Homes from Home around the country stocked with cleaning materials and food for families, and some Community Champions have supported local families who had lost their income with clothing and food hampers.
The extension of the partnership for a fifth year also enabled us to support the Young Lives vs Cancer social care teams during 2020, when the charity saw a 60% drop in income, redirecting money raised that year and extending so that the fifth year would fund Jack’s House.
Partnership Achievements
We're proud to say that this is our most successful charity partnership to date!
Together we've:
People
We'll help to raise funds that will allow Young Lives vs Cancer to create a brand new team of Young Lives vs Cancer Nurses, who will educate other health, social care and education professionals close to families’ homes. This will spread the skills and experience needed to provide the best possible care for young lives against cancer.
Places
Together, we will create new 'Home Hubs' close to Specialist Treatment Hospitals, which will provide a welcoming environment where families can take a much needed break from the intensity of the hospital ward, and grandparents, parents and siblings can have a cup of tea and chat.
Practical things
Working together, we will be able to help expand Young Lives vs Cancer's financial grants to families, which will in turn allow them to focus on important things like getting well. Young Live vs Cancer also want to develop a groundbreaking new digital hub, giving thousands of families home access to advice from healthcare professionals.
Introducing our new Little Kitchen Range
With Little Kitchen, every little bite helps Morrisons charity partner Young Lives vs Cancer (formerly CLIC Sargent) be there for families facing cancer - we're donating £300,000 from the sale of Little Kitchen products to this amazing charity to help it support young people following a cancer diagnosis.