URGENT APPEAL- MEERKAT CHILD BEREAVEMENT SERVICE

The Rowans Hospice in Purbrook is in significant financial difficulty, and many services are at imminent risk. Unfortunately, this includes The Rowans Meerkat Service

The Rowans Hospice Meerkat service offers invaluable emotional support to children and young people who have a significant adult (such as a parent or grandparent), with a life-limiting illness or, who have been bereaved of an adult close to them. While helping children cope with the loss of a loved one after bereavement, they are also the only local service helping children with pre-bereavement feelings and early grief as part of Rowans Hospice.

Please show your support for the Meerkat service by donating here, and please help Rowans Hospice to continue their other many different services by visiting https://www.rowanshospice.co.uk/donate

We are absolutely devastated to hear the heartbreaking news that The Rowans Meerkat Service is in financial difficulty.

1 in 29 children in the UK lose a parent before the age of 16. Can you imagine having to tell your child you are dying?

The Rowans Meerkat Service is the ONLY child berevement service in Hampshire that offers this support for children.

As a lot of you know we lost our Mum, Ciara, in June 2022. I cannot express how invaluable the Meerkat service was to us as a family. While Rowans were caring for Mum, the nurses gave us leaflets and information from the Meerkat service which was the start of helping us. The information helped us know the right things to do and say to Scarlett during the hardest days of our lives while Mum was coming to the end of her life. Scarlett was only 12 years old at the time of losing our Mum and we, as adults were of course completely lost, in disbelief, heartbreak and grief oursleves. This is where the Meerkat Service stepped in to help support Scarlett through the weeks and months after her unbearable loss. We felt such comfort that the service was able to be there for Scarlett in a time where we were feeling totally lost ourselves. I admire Scarlett, now 14, and learn a lot from her. Although so young, I feel the support she was given has allowed her to continue to deal with her grief in a way she can always remember Mum in comfort and carry on through life the lovely, kind and funny girl she is. Mum would be so proud of her!

Nothing can ever prepare a family for losing someone so special yet it is something we will all go through at some stage. This is why the Meerkat Service is vital to be able to continue to support families and children the way it has supported us!

So, thank you to the Rowans Meerkat Service for everything!

This is an urgent call! This vital service needs your help!

PLEASE PLEASE! If you can- follow the link to make a donation to help support the Meerkat Service. Any donation big or small could go towards supporting this service that day in, day out supports children in Hampshire and their families going through bereavement.

Please share to absolutely anyone you know that may be able to help.

We will be doing as much fundraising as we can along with many others to do our best to help and add to this go fund me page.

Thank you for reading ❤️