Compton Care boosted by church's generous donation

Compton Care has received a donation of £8,000 from St Joseph’s Catholic Church following a fundraising effort by the church from its three months as a Covid-19 rapid test centre.

Father Craig Fullard, parish priest of the Newman Cluster, said the donation had come from money given to the church to operate as a test centre.

He said: “We decided to take a percentage for each person who we tested at the centre and pool it together as we didn’t feel it was right to profit from being a test centre.

“As a church community, we felt it was the right thing to be able to pass that money onto a local charity that’s close to a lot of people’s hearts and that’s why we chose Compton Care.

"All of the volunteers here know someone who has been cared for by Compton Care and they are very appreciative of the work the staff and the centre do.”

Father Fullard said there had been around 6,000 people who had taken a test at the centre since it opened on January 8.

He also said the centre would be closing as the numbers had fallen and home test kits had become available.

Grateful

He said: “Our numbers have fallen right down and a centre like ours isn’t really needed, so we though it would be good to end on a high by handing a cheque over.

"It’s really important to do something like this as the charity touches so many lives and the care they give people is outstanding, particularly at such a difficult time.”

Compton Care community and events manager Kate Kelly attended the church to receive the cheque and said it meant so much to receive the donation.

She said: “We were amazed to find out that St Joseph’s wanted to give us a donation of £8,000.

“They have been such great long-term supporters and to have that email from Father Craig come into my inbox about the donation was wonderful.

"I just can’t thank them enough, not just for the cheque, but for their continued support and help, for which we are so grateful.”