Next month St Clare Hospice in Essex is launching a series of coffee mornings for local people to meet and share news.
The Community Big Brew events will take place monthly across four St Clare sites, offering a welcoming space for local people to gather and engage with their local hospice. The initiative is part of the hospice’s wider community engagement strategy and is integral to their vision to become a ‘hospice without walls’.
The events are open to all – shoppers, supporters, and local people. Attendees will get to chat over a cup of tea, meet new people, share local news, and find out how they can get more involved with St Clare or other support services in the local community; whether as a volunteer or supporter, or by accessing their services.
St Clare’s Community Engagement Manager, Sally Muylders, said:
“Community Big Brew is all about bringing local people together and helping them to feel connected, and part of their community. Our charity shops are already thriving community hubs – with shoppers, donators and volunteers often saying how their local St Clare shop is like a ‘family’. Our shops therefore are the perfect place to hold a monthly coffee morning, enabling those current relationships to develop, and for people to meet others.
Many people see the ‘hospice’ as just one building near Harlow – but we believe a hospice is also a very special way of caring, and connecting with people, which reaches far beyond the four walls of our centre in Hastingwood. We want St Clare to be a place which is supporting people, and connecting with them, wherever they are – and whatever stage of life they are at, not just at the end of their life. We hope that by providing a place for people to simply pop in for some company and a cup of tea, will help them to feel more connected to their local community. We hope lots of people will come along for our first Community Big Brews in October and see what it’s all about!
“The hospice and all our shops are an integral part of our local communities and we want to always be seen to have an ‘open door’, welcoming everyone from across our catchment area. We know we have more work to do to engage with our communities, and to develop that sense of openness, and the Community Big Brew project is just one step on that road. There will be much more to come, so keep your eyes and ears out for our community engagement plans!”
For more information visit St Clare Hospice: Community Big Brew or contact Sally Muylders
Leave a Reply