Virtual Shine – Winter 2024

We are proud to share that Shooting Star has won not one, but two awards at the 2024 Care Awards by Business Awards UK. Our Family Support team won Best Family Liaison Team, while Shooting Star Children’s Hospices was honoured with the title of Best Palliative Care Provider.

We pride ourselves in providing the very best clinical care to the families we support. This can only be achieved and maintained by ensuring we continue to review and adapt our services. Lisa, our Director of Care, highlights some of the improvements we have made to our services in the last year and how Shooting Star Children’s Hospices is making an impact on the local health system.

Our weekly Bereavement Café is providing pastoral support for children affected by the death of a classmate. Teachers identify those who were close to the child who has died and invite them into the café, where they can chat openly about their experience of grief. They can decorate stones in memory of their friend and place them in the fountain in Shooting Star House garden. A school teacher shared, “Shooting Star does a lot of mindfulness and well-being activities in which the students can have some time to reflect and take their mind off things. There are trained people there that can talk with them.”

Vikki’s role as a Family Support Worker includes a new partnership with the NICU unit at St Peter’s Hospital in Chertsey, ensuring staff and families are aware of the support Shooting Star can offer. “Being a Family Support Worker is incredibly meaningful to me. Being able to support the family through memory making, I can give them something physical to remember them by. By being able to listen, guide and support them, I go away every day knowing that I’ve made a small difference in their lives.”

Our annual Memory Days are poignant events for parents and carers who are supported by our bereavement service to treasure the life of their child. Families can meet with members of the care team who cared for their child and those providing care in their bereavement. Held at our purpose-built children’s hospice, Christopher’s, and Shooting Star House in Hampton, over 117 people were welcomed through our doors this year. For the first time, families whose child died suddenly were able to attend, following the expansion of our bereavement service late last year.

Did you know in addition to our eight shops, we also have an eBay store? Along with being the perfect place to find unique items not found in our shops, we’re also looking for donations to sell on the platform. If you have any cameras (old or digital), designer bags, hallmarked silver, gold or vintage jewellery or Lego, we’d be delighted if you would donate them to us. Items can be donated via our shops or to our donation station in Knaphill.

Supporting our Christmas tree collection helps us to provide essential care to families. By donating, you ensure we can bring comfort and joy to children with life-limiting conditions, and their families, over the festive period. Additionally, by recycling your real Christmas tree, you will be contributing to a greener planet. Make the festive season brighter and more
meaningful for those in need and register your interest today.

Taking on a one of our challenge events is a great way to raise money for us while pushing yourself to new heights! Why not pace the streets in March at the Surrey Half Marathon? Or for a more rugged challenge, the Sunrise Trek up Yr-Wyddfa (Snowdon) next year could be for you.