Emma with a Kids’ Kit
We’d like to introduce you to Emma, who is passionate about helping people with cancer. Emma excels at bringing Cancer Support UK’s work to life, sharing our vision with funders in order to engage them and ultimately gain vital funding to ensure we can continue to support people affected by cancer.
“I am very lucky in that my own life hasn’t been touched by cancer. However, I have seen friends struggle to cope with a family member’s diagnosis, treatment and life beyond cancer. When I saw the excellent work carried out by Cancer Support UK, I knew I wanted to be a part of this charity, which does so much good and has the scope to help so many people.
“My passion is to help people. I am fortunate that in my personal and working life I have been surrounded by many caring, knowledgeable and supportive people and I want to pay that forward. I am blessed that I can do a job that I love while helping people who need it the most.
“I joined the charitable sector in 2017, working for a small charity, which supports families dealing with child to parent violence. Initially, I was involved in business development, but then I discovered a new-found love for fundraising.
The special Warmies bunny held by Emma is a favourite with children facing cancer treatment
“So I moved to a full time fundraising role at a local hospice, which was a very humbling but amazing experience. Immediately, I knew that I had found my dream job and that the charity sector was where I belonged.
“I know that I am biased, but I truly believe we deliver incredible services at Cancer Support UK. Although each service offers a different proposition, they all have the same mission to support people’s mental and emotional wellbeing, which is so important, particularly with all the challenges we are currently facing.
“Our Cancer Kits are like a warm hug, which people need during a time of crisis in their lives. They bring comfort and joy when everything is uncertain and stressful.
“Cancer Coach is a course that offers free peer support, as well as tools and coping strategies, which can help people with their post treatment recovery journey.
“I think people underestimate how much it means having someone to talk to, who has been on a similar journey to you and being able to access that support quickly, in way that suits you and without having to worry about the cost is priceless.
“Our new Cancer Ambassador training programme helps people learn how to talk to a colleague who is affected by cancer and feeling anxious, lonely and isolated. I believe if we all work together, we can support better mental wellbeing for everyone living with and beyond cancer.
“What I love most about my role at Cancer Support UK is working with our small but amazing team. Between us we possess an incredibly diverse range of knowledge and I love the fact that we all share our knowledge, ideas, and ways of working, and support each other. This in turn enables us to develop different and innovative ways of helping people with cancer.
“My goal for Cancer Support UK is to ensure that we have stable sources of income so that we can continue to grow our services by developing more innovative programmes to extend our reach. We could also create stronger beneficiary led partnerships to help shape services for those living with and beyond cancer.
“The past couple of years have been very challenging for the charitable sector. Trust fundraising has felt the impact of the pandemic, which has affected the investment and donation income that trusts use to support charities.
“Many trusts and foundations have diversified their giving to support refugees and overseas aid delivery. The now crippling cost of living crisis will have an impact on the amount of income that will be donated and we will see a loss in profit margins, which some companies put into trust to support charitable giving.
From left to right: Sasha , Flash and Max
“Unfortunately, I think we will see many small charities struggle to survive another tough year. This in turn will cause other charities to see an increase in requests for help while struggling with a loss of income and we will need to work together and form partnerships to ensure we can support those in need.
“Away from work much of my spare time is taken up with caring for my three rescue dachshunds, who came to me through the Red Foundation (a charity that rescues dachshunds). My dogs are bundles of mischief who constantly want love and treats, but my husband and I feel blessed to have been chosen to be their forever home (in Sheffield) and we couldn’t imagine life without them.
Max’s winning smile
Finally, if you are reading this blog, please can I ask you to think about ways in which you can help people living with and beyond cancer?
- Donate – with your help we can be there for adults and children being treated for cancer or recovering from cancer
- Volunteer as a Cancer Coach.
- Talk to your employer about forming an essential partnership with us. Could we be your Charity of the Year?
- Follow us on social media and help share our messages on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn
- Get involved with challenge events – such as skydiving or running a marathon – which are an exciting way to fundraise, while having fun
- Fundraise for Cancer Support UK with a coffee morning, cake sale or an activity
Thank you so much.
