St. Nicholas' Hospice has launched a weekly Lottery as a major new fundraising initiative to raise funds for patient care in West Suffolk and Thetford. For a stake of �1 a week, members receive a unique Lottery number.

There will be �1,500 of prize money given out every week, with a guaranteed first prize of �1,000 plus a range of smaller prizes totalling �500. Bob Jones, the chief executive, announced that the first draw will take place on Friday 12 June, 1998, with a target of �250,000 annually to be raised in addition to the Hospice's on-going fundraising programme. The Hospice needs to raise �1,500 a day to continue providing patient care without charge.

The new Lottery funds will also open up new areas of patient care such as:

• the employment of a doctor to support work in the community
• the development of a child bereavement support programme
• an expansion of the Macmillan Nursing Team service

This is the first such hospice initiative in Suffolk, Norfolk and Cambridgeshire and will also create jobs throughout the region, employing house-to-house Lottery Collectors.

In operating a Lottery, St. Nicholas' joins the ranks of the many other hospices that successfully raise money. There are more than 200 hospices throughout the country with around a third now running their own lotteries.

The Lottery will be run separately from the Hospice itself. It is designed to generate its own prize money, cover its own costs and make a substantial donation for patient and family care.

Press contact: Lucy Koserski or David Pitt.

Tel : 01284 766133
(or for David Pitt, Hospice Lottery Office direct Tel : 01284 725118)

Click here to read the full lottery supplement