June Newsletter
Hello!
If you follow our Facebook page you will know we are having a very big and busy 2021 so far! Despite Covid and lockdown we have been able to make a LoveOliver dream come true in opening our children’s charity shop in the Kingdom Shopping Centre in Glenrothes. It has been a massive team effort with so many people donating their time and talents to help us transform the unit and make the shop become a reality. The shop was officially opened by Jenny Gliruth MSP on Saturday 22nd May and is off to a great start - even on day two we had returning customers! As well as raising vital awareness and funds for LoveOliver, we hope it will be a great service to the community too.
We continue to support families across Scotland in very practical ways - our main services being financial grants, digital thermometers and COOK meals. We are very excited to be donating a freezer to the Edinburgh ward which means that meals will now be available on the ward itself as well as in the parent accommodation. This is something we have been hoping to be able to do for a long time as we know parents are often reluctant to leave their child on the ward to source meals for themselves.
We have included an update from our PhD student below. Emma’s 4 year PhD studentship will conclude later this year, and we are delighted to announce that we have committed to fully funding a full time technician in Professor Clifford’s lab in the Northern Institute for Cancer Research at Newcastle University. This post will be taken up by someone already on the team there, and will start on 1st July. This is a really big and exciting step for LoveOliver as we seek to help find gentler treatments for childhood cancer, and ultimately cures.
We have been blown away by the level of fundraising for LoveOliver over the last few months - from bake sales to daily walks and runs, to the Kiltwalk and more. We were very honoured to have three teams take part in the Kiltwalk for LoveOliver - in memory of Maisie, Jasmin and in honour of William. Together these three teams and a family friend raised over £18,000 once Sir Tom Hunter topped up their sponsorship money by 50% - an incredible amount of money! We also feel very privileged to have had social workers and therapists with whom we work take on fundraising challenges for LoveOliver, having seen first hand the very real difference the charity makes to the lives of families facing childhood cancer.
Thank you all for your continuing support for LoveOliver - it really does mean the world to us, is bringing hope for the future through research and is bringing light to families in their very darkest of times. If you are in a position to be donating financially or by volunteering your time we would love to hear from you, as well as if you are thinking of taking on a challenge for the charity.
Love from Jennifer, Andy and all at LoveOliver
