Volunteering Opportunities with Sophies Legacy

About

Sophie Fairall was diagnosed with Rhabdomyosarcoma, a rare childhood cancer, at age 9 in September 2020. Despite undergoing intense chemotherapy and radiotherapy, she relapsed and passed away at age 10 in September 2021. Sophie’s Legacy was created to honor her memory and the changes she wanted to see. Whilst we are working trying to achieve national change for Sophie’s wishes (see the legacy tabs) an important ethos of the charity is to support families locally who end up in hospital with their child. The support varies depending on each situation. We tend to offer the following on a referral basis: ​ Help with transport costs (fuel vouchers, bus or train passes or taxis) Clothes when admitted in an emergency with their child Birthday parties in hospital for children and parents Emotional support End of life wishes for children and their families Vouchers for meals at the hospital restaurant or shops such as M&S Costa vouchers Beauty treatments such as nails, haircut or back massage when a parent needs it – this tends to be for the parents in for long stays. ​ We also provide the hospital wards with the following: Snack and toiletry box in every parent room / kitchen Frozen meals from Cook Pizza every Saturday at Portsmouth, Chichester, Isle of Wight, Poole NICU and Royal Marsden Hospitals and Sunday at Guildford. Art practitioner at Portsmouth Hospital and in the community for children who spend long periods of time in hospital Parent packs which contain essential toiletry items, phone chargers, note pad and pen, snack etc.​ A trolley of food, drink and toiletries 7 days a week at QA Hospital for parents on CAU and children's wards ​ We also provide the following to hospitals We fund washing powder for NICU in Portsmouth We have funded new bedding, highchairs, pushchairs, microwaves, freezers, cutlery, crockery etc. We provide toys, activities, crafts for the play teams in hospital We provide gifts on Mother's and Father’s Day We provide activities over Easter, Halloween, Christmas We provide a Christmas dinner to all staff and parents on the children’s wards.