here - Little Hearts Matter

FundraisingDear Members and Supporters,I write to you a few days after attendingmy first Open Day and getting to meetmany more of the families that LHMsupports. It was wonderful to see thechildren of all ages enjoying themselvesand the teenagers catching up with oldfriends.Parents also caught up with friendsthey have made over the years andfamilies who came for the first timewished they had come earlier and wentaway having made friendships that arelikely to last for many years. They alsogained a much deeper understanding ofthe breadth of services we offer forparents and children from diagnosis allthe way through the family's journey.What I heard so many of our memberssay throughout the day was thank you,and it's something I would like to say toyou, the members, as it is the fundraisingthat you have been involved in and thedonations that you have sent thatcontinue to enable the charity to offerthe support and services it does forexisting members and the many newpeople that are being made aware thatwe are here to help all families where a£300,000£265,000£250,000£200,000£150,000single ventricle condition has beendiagnosed.Enjoy the summer and please keepus updated on all the fabulous£100,000fundraising you are doing. You can poston our Facebook page; we now have£85,163over 3,000 fans who view the posts on aregular basis.Warm regards,Shelagh. £50,000Please continue to help us raise the vital funds we need to continueour work, we receive no government funding and rely solely on thedonations from individuals, groups and companies. Everything youdo makes a difference. Please try and support us in any way you can.Legacies10We recently received a legacy from a long standingsupporter, who, after he had taken care of his loved ones,chose to leave a legacy to us, for which we are extremelygrateful. Following on from this I was talking to a membera few weeks ago and explaining the difference legaciesmake to charities generally and the fact that somecharities rely on legacy income to fund up to 50% of theirwork.It is a common myth that only the rich and famousleave money to charity when they die, this couldn't be anyfurther from the truth. The reality is it is everyday peoplewho when writing their will include a charity to benefit. Themember was very knowledgeable about the workings ofcharities and was in complete agreement. She mentionedthat she had indeed left a legacy and told me the charityshe had chosen, I was quite surprised to hear her choicebut also very understanding that we all have our personalconnections, when I asked her why she chose this charity,she said "because they asked me!... actually I didn't eventhink about LHM and come to think of it I've never heardthe charity talk about or ask people to consider leaving alegacy for the work you will need to do in the future!" Welooked at each other and smiled, both learning somethingfrom our conversation.It can feel uncomfortable talking to people about willsand legacies, but having taken care of your family andfriends, please do consider a lasting legacy to us ifyou can. You may also be interested to know that theGovernment is aiming to make legacy giving the normand has introduced a reduction in inheritance tax rate forthose leaving 10% or more to a charity.