News Maidstone Crematorium donates £10,000 to Demelza charity
Maidstone Borough Council has donated £10,000 to Demelza Hospice Care for Children from the Metal Recycling Scheme at the Vinters Park Crematorium.
After gaining written consent from families, the team at the crematorium recycle any replacement joints to raise money for charity.
Since joining the Institute of Cemetery and Crematorium Management (ICCM) Metal Recycling Scheme in 2013 Maidstone Borough Council has donated £70,076 to bereavement related charities.
Sharon Smith Bereavement Services Manager at Maidstone Borough Council said:
“Thank you so much to all those bereaved families who have consented for orthopaedic implants such as knee and hip replacement joints to be removed from the ashes, it is making a huge difference to our local charities.
“Following a cremation any metals that are retrieved after consent are stored safely and collected from us quarterly. They are then taken to Sheffield for separation, sorting and smelting and a high percentage of the higher-grade cobalt steel is sent to two companies that manufacture new orthopaedic implants. Any lower graded metal is traditionally recycled.
“Our donations started out as £5,000, then £8,000 and this is the first one for £10,000.”
Victoria Adley, Senior Community Fundraiser at Demelza Hospice Care for Children added:
“Thank you Vinters Park Crematorium for your extremely kind donation of £10,000.“It has come at a time when many charities, Demelza included, are facing loss in income. We are reliant on our local community, more than ever to help raise the money that keeps our Hospices going, providing vital end of life care to children, and supporting their families.
“Your donation will have an impact on our families. It could cover the cost of 50 families going through the referral process to access our services or pay for over 900 hours of care from one of our healthcare professionals and over 166 hours or art or music therapy. It would be enough to feed more than 400 families during an overnight stay at one of our hospices or could allow for 150 visits in the comfort of a child’s home by our Care Team.
“The priceless things your donation could pay for truly make a difference. Thanks to donations like yours, our families have access to an Eyegaze machine, a special eye tracking camera that observes the user’s eyes on a computer screen. Users who are unable to speak can generate speech by typing a message or selecting pre-programmed phrases. Demelza families can now hear their children speak through this machine; something they might never have thought would be possible. One teenager’s first words to her mother, with the help of the Eyegaze were, “I love you.”
“On behalf of everyone at Demelza, thank you.”
Since 2013 the crematorium have donated to the following amazing charities: Alzheimer’s, British Heart Foundation, Winston’s Wish, Beating Bowel Cancer, Sands, Slide Away, Breast Cancer, Cruse Bereavement Care, Heart of Kent Hospice, Survivors of Suicide, Holding on letting go and Demelza Kent.
For more information on the Institute of Cemetery and Crematorium Management (ICCM) Metal Recycling Scheme, please visit:
https://www.iccm-uk.com/iccm/?pagename=recyclingmetal&pagename=recyclingmetal