Group Home

Old phone FridayOld Phone Friday - 11 April

mhs homes is appealing to all residents and staff to pool together their old and disused mobiles phones for charity.

Each year our staff vote for a charity they wish to support. This year we have chosen Macmillan Cancer Support to help get a cancer care unit built at Medway Hospital.

Macmillan Cancer Support is working with the Medway NHS Trust to build a new Macmillan Cancer Care Unit for local people at Medway Maritime Hospital.  It will mean that cancer patients can receive chemotherapy in their local hospital and existing haematology patients will be cared for in a bright, purpose built ward.

To achieve this, Macmillan Cancer Support needs to raise over £1 million by 2009, to add to the £3 million that is already being invested by the Medway NHS trust. The work on the new Macmillan Cancer Care Unit is due to start early this year and be completed and in use by 2009.

Every team within the mhs homes group has been challenged to arrange a fundraising event at some point during 2008. Tom Billingham, of mhs commercial services decided that the best way he could raise cash would be to recycle old mobile phones. His first collection of phones raised £350 so he has decided to appeal to the public for help. Tom said, "Cancer touches the lives of all us! It could be any one of us that will need lifesaving hospital treatment in the future so I wanted to do my bit and I sincerely hope that other people living in our community will help me. We are now asking anyone who has an old phone in the bottom of a drawer to donate it to our cause to raise more money for a Macmillan Cancer Care Unit at Medway Maritime Hospital."

Old Phone FridayOn Friday 11th April, we are holding what is called ‘Old Phone Friday’ where people can drop their old phones into the mhs homes office mhs express, at 115 High Street, Chatham.

Tom added, "We aim to collect as many old phones as we can on the one day which will be recycled and turned into cash to help this really worthy cause. By donating old phones and any associated equipment local people can do their bit towards getting us a vital hospital service. The only thing we ask is that before dropping off old mobile phones that people make sure that they have taken the sim card out and that all numbers on the phone have been deleted."

We aim to raise £50,000 during the year. We have already achieved over £13,500 (half of the money raised), when 166 people slept out in cardboard boxes in January and we have a whole calendar of events to help us reach our goal before the end of the year.