The Pavers Foundation has donated £1,000 to Maggie’s Yorkshire, a cancer support charity based in Leeds. The Foundation donated the money on behalf of Lauren Viligiardi, a Pavers colleague based in Wakefield.
Founder and namesake of the organisation, Maggie Jencks, opened the first Maggie’s centre in Edinburgh in 1996 following her own breast cancer diagnosis and finding that there was little practical and emotional support available. Today there are currently 28 centres in the UK with future centres under development.
Amy Elver, from Maggie’s Leeds Fundraising team, accepted the donation, thanked the Pavers Foundation and said, “All of us at Maggie’s Yorkshire want to say a huge thanks to the Pavers Foundation for their generous donation. This will help us to offer support and advice to anyone affected by cancer and who visits us here at Maggie’s Yorkshire.”
Lauren’s mum was diagnosed with cancer last year and Lauren happened upon the Maggie’s Yorkshire centre when she took her mum to an appointment at Leeds St James hospital. She was welcomed in with a smile and was able to talk with a member of staff there and then, on this Lauren said, “The staff were absolutely amazing and never made me feel uncomfortable about what I was going through”.
As the centre not only supports cancer patients with groups and workshops but also their relatives and families. Lauren was finding it difficult to talk to her friends and family about the challenges she was facing through her mum’s diagnosis but found the Maggie’s centre to be a great help stating that, “talking to the staff at Maggie’s helped me to be able to open up and talk about my feelings”. Lauren hopes that this donation will help other families up and down the country find a comforting and friendly face in Maggie’s.