Saint Michael Hospice shops desperate for stock donations

Donated items are desperately needed at the charity shops which support the Archangel Michael Hospice in Paphos, as the coronavirus restrictions have meant donations have been severely slashed, according to volunteers.

“Our six shops in the Paphos district are running low on stock and some are very low. We would be really grateful in particular for donations of furniture, household goods and clothes,” one of the Saint Michael’s hospice charity directors, David Richards, told the Cyprus Mail.

The income from the shops pays for around 40 per cent of the total operational costs of the facility for a year, which is about €300,000 he said.

St Michael’s Hospice Charity is an independent organisation that was formed to help with raising funds for the completion of the Archangel Michael Hospice which opened in June 2015.

It now aims to raise funds towards the operation of Archangel Michael Hospice in order for them to provide palliative and respite care to those in need.

The charity has six shops operating in the Paphos district: Paphos Town, Geroskipou, Peyia, Kato Paphos, Agapinoros Street and Polemi. They also run special events and have a number of charity boxes in various locations around Paphos.

“St Michael’s Hospice Charity now has its own van, so we can collect donated furniture from around Paphos so people wanting to donate but unable to transport items to our shops can contact us and we will collect it for them,” Richards said.

Much of the donated furniture is sold on Facebook’s ‘marketplace,’ which is proving popular.

Good quality men and women’s clothes are also required and should be washed and preferably ironed before being donated, Richards added.

“The pandemic has really affected the shops and our income as there is less footfall of both tourists and residents, not many people are moving house at the moment, so not much furniture is being donated, people also have less money than a year ago, and they are not really using charity shops,” Richards said.

The hospice in Mesa Chorio opened in June 2015 and has nine rooms used for palliative and respite care, including two for children. It costs around €300,000 a year to operate the facility, which has helped hundreds of patients since it opened.

According to the facility, currently Archangel Michael Hospice respite care is free for the first few days, after which a charge will be made due to the Covid 19 pandemic.

Archangel Michael hospice is currently the only functioning hospice in the district following the closure of the Friends Hospice, which hopes to re-open at a new location.

To donate: (M) 96699777