Charity urgently needs funding for Albania

PETERBOROUGH, UK, Oct 21 – Charity workers have hit the streets of Peterborough to appeal for help to secure 50,000 pounds to help terminally ill people in Albania.
Each year, Sue Ryder Care’s Ryder Albania Hospice provides home-based medical, psychological and social care to more than 2,500 terminally ill people and their families in two of the country’s biggest cities, Tirana and Durres.
However, Ryder Albania is now under threat of closure due to lack of voluntary funding.
It urgently needs to secure 50,000 pounds this financial year to continue to support people living with life limiting conditions such as cancer to die in dignity and pain free.
Sue Ryder care representatives were at Queensgate Shopping Centre on Saturday to mark World Hospice Day and raise awareness of the 50,000 pounds appeal, plus the work Sue Ryder does in the UK to provide hospices and soothing care.
A fund-raiser at Sue Ryder Care at Thorpe Hall Hospice, in Longthorpe, Peterborough, Emma Long said, “The day was a great success and we would like to thank Queensgate for allowing us to promote the day as part of their charity support.
“I really hope that people will choose to support Sue Ryder Care not only in the UK but in Albania, too.”
Days later British Ambassador to Albania Fiona McIlwham handed over a cheque for 14,500 Euros to the “Sue Ryder Albania” charity at a ceremony at her Residence this afternoon. This money will help support Sue Ryder Albania’s work with terminally ill patients and elderly people with chronic illnesses.
The funds given to Sue Ryder Albania by the Ambassador today were raised by staff at the British Embassy, who organized a charity Spring Ball earlier this year.
The Ambassador said that Sue Ryder Albania was an excellent example of civil society helping to provide services in an important area such as palliative care. She stressed that ordinary people can accomplish extraordinary things through voluntary activity, whether it is by raising funds for worthwhile causes like Sue Ryder, or by volunteering their own time and expertise to help those in need.
The ceremony was attended by representatives of Sue Ryder Albania, civil society, the healthcare sector, national and local government and the Embassy.
The Ryder Albania Association is a not-for-profit organization offering free care (medical, psychological and social-economic) at home for terminally-ill patients and elderly people with chronic illnesses. It provides these services with the support of Sue Ryder Care in the UK. The Ryder Albania Association started its activities in Tirana in 1993, and it opened its Durres branch in 1996.