The Shepherd’s Purse Fund came into being fairly early in the history of Green Pastures.
It was established to top up the fees of residents who could not afford to do so for themselves.
The catalyst for this was an elderly lady who really wanted to spend her final days in the home, but lacked sufficient funding to do so.
Sadly, she died elsewhere, and one of her final wishes was denied her.
This so moved the Board of Green Pastures that a Grant Fund was set up to meet such needs.
The Shepherd’s Purse Fund is administered by a small sub-committee of the Green Pastures Board and relies on fund-raising activities for support.
The fund is ring fenced to top up any shortfall in fees of existing residents as and when the need arises.
The manager of the home is the gatekeeper of this fund, being the first senior member of Green Pastures to become aware of a need arising.
The fund is very limited, being supported entirely by voluntary giving. Any contribution towards the fund allows Green Pastures to support a larger number of residents in need.
Why does the Shepherd’s Purse Fund urgently need more money?
The fund is used solely to support residents who are funded by the County Council but there has always been a difference between how much the County Council will pay and our break even fee for care.Residents, or their relatives are expected to pay this shortfall for themselves.
Some cannot afford to do this and these are the residents that the Shepherd’s Purse seeks to help.
This year, we expect that every state-funded resident will need support; this means that we will have to limit the number of state-funded residents that we can accept.
Just to meet the needs of our existing state-funded residents we will need to raise at least £30,000.
Of course, we would like to be able to raise much more than this so that we can offer support to more residents.
Green Pastures is run on a not-for-profit basis and aims to provide high quality nursing care to the elderly at realistic prices.
The state is now offering £50 per week less than was being offered ten years ago. In that time we have had massive increases in costs: cost of regulation; cost of CRB checks; minimum wage; holiday entitlement; gas and electricity; and the general rise in cost of everyday items like food. We expect the increase in differential to be ongoing.
During the last ten years residents have come into a nursing home later and later in their life – so when they do come in they are more dependent and need more care.
This has increased the need for more specialist equipment such as hoists, pressure mattresses and so on. Even more importantly it has increased the need for more staff and thias has had a huge impact on our finances. To run the home now with the staffing levels of 2004 would lead to a massive reduction in the quality of care provided.
Some Case Studies (names and location have been changed to protect identity)
Edith
Edith’s mother is in a care home in Lancashire. As she teaches full time it is very difficult to get to see her mother as often as she would like. She is concerned that she is not well cared for but is unable to do much about it from a distance as her visits are infrequent due to the practicalities.
If she moved her mother to Banbury she could see her every day, much better than the infrequent but long visits they now endure. Edith is very fond of her mother and would like to spend quality time with her as she nears the end of her life.
Her mother is state funded and the fee offered by the local authority makes it impossible to pay for a local home Edith is willing to make a contribution towards her mother’s care but with a growing family and a mortgage there is no way that she could afford the top-up fee required to meet the full cost of care.
With the support of a grant from the Shepherd’s Purse funding the shortfall in fees, Edith will be able to bring her mother to Banbury, see her every day and keep close contact with her in her last days.
“This would be impossible without the help I have received from the Shepherd’s Purse”.
Frank
Frank has lived in Banbury all his life. His wife and family still live locally. He now needs nursing care after suffering a stroke. Like many of our residents he has been left without the use of some of his faculties and cannot be cared for at home.
Without the help of a grant from the Shepherd’s Purse, Frank would be placed in a home, miles from Banbury. This would isloate him from friemds and family who all live locally and in particular his wife, who is currently able to visit him most days.
“I’m so happy at Green Pastures”
How can you help?
Making a cash donation.
If you would like to offer your support you can make a donation here
Leaving a Legacy.
Making a bequest in your will is one of the most popular and easiest ways to leave a gift.
To include Green Pastures in your will we suggest the following wording may be used:
“I give £……. to the Green Pastures Shepherd’s Purse Fund for the financial support of residents who do not have the resource to pay top-up fees.