Volunteers and Naked Bean donation celebrated by Albany Community Hospice over an afternoon cuppa

A number of volunteers at WA’s only community-run hospice took some time out on Tuesday to have a cuppa as staff from the Albany Community Hospice said thank you. The afternoon tea coincided with the statewide Thank A Volunteer Day and was also a chance for Naked Bean to hand over its donation following a month-long fundraising effort. The Middleton Road cafe donated 50c from each coffee and $2 from every 1kg bag of coffee it sold during November to ACH. It resulted in a cheque valued at just shy of $5000 being presented to the organisation. ACH clinical hospice manager Fiona Jane said the support from Naked Bean had been amazing, through coming up with the fundraising idea and raising awareness. “Naked Bean had information about the hospice available to their patrons and provided the space for the community to talk about our work,” she said. “We know many who have been touched by the hospice in some way made their way to the Naked Bean to support us. “We heard about a local bike group diverting to the cafe to support ACH — so that has been wonderful to hear and great that our community supports those businesses who support us.” The current gap between ACH funding and the daily bed cost is about $285 a day. It means the money donated through the campaign will fund 17 days for someone in the community to stay at ACH. “This is a fantastic result and will make a difference,” Ms Jane said. She said it had been just as important to celebrate the more than 100 volunteers who contributed to ACH in a variety of roles, which she labelled the “backbone of the Hospice”. “The work of our volunteers also contributes immensely with volunteer work contributing to 21 hours per day and 7800 hours a year,” she said. “We are forever grateful for the contributions of all our volunteers who make a huge difference to the work we do here.”