GUERNSEY’S Cheshire Home has been saved from closure. A surge in fundraising secured its future for the first quarter of 2007 but the threat has only been postponed for three months as funds quickly decrease.
The home has 10 full-time physically disabled residents who are no longer able to remain with their families.
‘Prior to Christmas the situation looked pretty dire,’ said charity treasurer Barrie Linnecor.
‘We managed to raise about £90,000 for the first quarter of this year - a lot of that was to do with media coverage before Christmas and a long list of donations.
‘This year’s budget is £400,000 so we didn’t quite make the total for the first three months.’
Mr Linnecor said the home could face a similar situation again if funds did not start to come in soon.
‘We’re just about ok for the next few months, but that’s dependent upon some donations we hope are in the pipeline.’
‘We look at ourselves as a family and like many families we don’t have the security of regular income but have to survive on the generosity of people and organisations in the Bailiwick.’
He added that it was often a fine balancing act stabilising the charity’s finances.
‘If you have £200,000 in a bank account people could think you’re doing fine but that money will only cover six months-worth of costs - if we have nine months in hand we feel we’re doing really well.’
Care workers Jimmy Ozanne, Tanya Russel, Linda Cutler and Sue Topley have raised around £2,000 for the home with a charity parachute jump planned for the summer.
‘Every penny does help. Obviously we need the hundreds of thousands but every penny does add to it - it sounds a cliche but it’s true.
‘If the unthinkable does happen we do have a plan B in place but obviously we don’t want to use it,’ said Mr Linnecor.
He added that the home has an endowment fund that donors can pay in to. The income from it is used for running costs.
‘We have standing-order donors, which are extremely helpful because it means we have some form of regular income.’
‘We’re currently looking into the feasibility of opening a charity shop so we would love to find a premises and acquire some volunteers.’
* To make a donation call the Cheshire Home on 720578.
Article posted on 7th April, 2007 - 12.00am
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