The recently launched Save Acorns Black Country Hospice Appeal has received a significant boost from the Black Country business community.

The Nachural Summer Ball and Business Awards held at Wolverhampton Racecourse last month, were attended by 520 of the region’s movers and shakers. Over the course of the evening a total of £12,000 was raised for Acorns Children’s Hospice, the chosen charity.

Event organiser, Ninder Johal, Deputy Lieutenant of the West Midlands, a former Black Country Chamber of Commerce President and current Black Country LEP board member presented the cheque to Chief Executive, Toby Porter, on Tuesday 30 July, following a visit and tour of the Black Country hospice where he met staff, volunteers and families.

He said “There is such an incredible atmosphere at the hospice - it’s a warm and inviting place where the dedication and commitment of staff to the children and families is paramount. “It’s a great pleasure for me to be able to make this contribution on behalf of the region’s business community.  I wish the team every success in reaching the target needed to keep the hospice open.

“We’ll do everything we can to keep the message out there among our members and as part of that we are pleased to make Acorns our Charity of the Year; covering the Birmingham Signature Awards, as well as next year’s Nachural Summer Ball.”

The Save Acorns Black Country Children’s Hospice Appeal was launched by Acorns on the back of significant new funding locally and nationally from the NHS.

The appeal sets out to raise £2 million to towards the Walsall hospice – which the charity had proposed for closure - until the full amount of new Government funding is reached. If the appeal is successful, it will lead to the closure proposal being withdrawn completely. 

Chief Executive, Toby Porter, said: “I attended the Nachural Summer Ball and Business Awards and was genuinely touched by the warm reaction from the business community towards Acorns and the work that we do.

“We’re thrilled, not just with this amount, but the fact that we’ll be working closely with Ninder over the next 12 months as charity of the year. Their generous support is hugely appreciated by everyone who is fighting hard to make sure that we are able to keep providing the essential services to all of those children and families in the Black Country.

“There’s a long way to go, and we need as many people as possible to get behind our urgent appeal, share it with their friends, families and work colleagues, and help us reach our £2 million goal.”

The lifeline for Acorns in the Black Country follows a commitment of significant new NHS funding from Black Country healthcare commissioners and an earlier announcement by NHS England that they would double their central funding support to the country’s children’s hospices over the next five years. This lifeline means the Acorns children’s hospice in Walsall can stay open to Black Country children and families until at least the end of March 2020.

For more information and to donate towards the Appeal, please visit www.acorns.org.uk/appeal