Justin Hosts Fundraising Coffee Morning For The Jessie May Trust

It was another successful coffee morning at Justin Tomlinson MP's community office on Saturday, as the team from the Jessie May Trust were on hand to speak to local residents about the work that the charity does and how it hopes to expand into Swindon. 

Jessie May is a charity that provides hospice at home care for terminally ill children. The charity was set up by the parents of Jessica May Purrington, a little girl who died at home aged four months surrounded by her family and her nurses. They have a team of dedicated nurses who provide care to children and families during a child’s life and after their death. The charity's nurses provide vital respite care, emotional support, end of life care, and bereavement support alongside family events. This enables other children with conditions like Jessica’s, as well as their families, to have support in their own homes, and the choice to die in a familiar, comfortable environment when that time comes.

After a lot of hard work and perseverance initial funding was secured, and Jessie May was officially launched in 1996 and the charity now hopes to expand its fantastic work into Swindon, where it already has 4 dedicated nurses.

As well as reaching out to members of the local community, a commendable £82 was raised through selling cakes and coffees.

Debbie Clark, Swindon and Wiltshire’s Corporate & Community fundraiser for Jessie May said, “The people of Swindon are just switching on to who we are like other wonderful charities, a lot of people don’t know about the support that is on offer until they need it. It is little things that can make a difference to the lives of families, especially giving parents the time to spend extra time with siblings who may have to sit back and watch people care for their sister or brother. So for us a coffee morning like this to raise awareness is really important.”

Justin Tomlinson MP said: “Jessie May is a fantastic charity helping families through some of the worst times imaginable. As well as raising a bit of money, it was great to provide them the opportunity to raise awareness and tell people about the valuable work they do.”