Gifts in kind making a big difference!

When you first walk into Katharine House Hospice, you receive a warm welcome from our receptionist and the doctors, nurses and care team are always there with a smile and a listening ear … 

Behind the scenes are a team of amazing people making sure that our hospice has that home from home feel. Our catering team, housekeepers, maintenance team and gardening volunteers work around the clock to ensure that our patients are fed well and that the hospice and grounds are spotlessly clean and tidy.    

However, they can’t do it alone. In 2025, Katharine House Hospice received over £56,000 in gifts-in-kind from the local business community. A gift-in-kind is a donation to a charity that is non-financial but helps the charity secure essential goods and services, in turn, keeping the costs of the charity to a minimum.  

Everyone knows that in a crisis, the best thing to do, is to put the kettle on! Well, every year, thousands of cups of tea and coffee are made at the hospice for our patients, their families, volunteers and staff. Thanks to Jacobs Douwe Egberts, we haven’t bought a single jar of coffee for years as they supply us with free coffee all year round, ensuring that everyone can enjoy a cuppa when they need it.  

“Produce Warriors have been super consistent and totally invaluable to us. The patients love the fruit we’re able to offer and we’re able to send some home with fruit if there is excess, which can vary weekly.” Hannah Graham, Living Well Care Co-ordinator

Our housekeeping and catering team rely heavily on the support from Cleenol and Karcher, both of whom have been supporting the hospice for many years, in numerous ways.

Cleenol provide the hospice with essential cleaning products, such as specialist detergents for the washing machines, cleaning and drainage products, tissues and toilet rolls, colour coded cloths and alcohol gel for hands. They also provide free servicing on our cleaning machinery.

We have the best cleaning equipment on the market thanks to Karcher, who provide vacuum cleaners, plus an annual service for all machines on loan. This ensures that our hospice is beautifully clean, providing a safe and pleasant environment for everyone that visits or stays with us.  

We are only a small hospice, so we don’t have a huge amount of storage space. However, thanks to Magenta Storage in Banbury, we have that problem solved. Since 2018, we have been given a 75 sq ft storage space at their unit in Banbury, completely free of charge.  

Every winter, NJF Gritting keep us all safe by providing free gritting services on the hospice grounds, so the car park is ice-free and none of our visitors, staff or suppliers have any nasty slips or falls.  

We try to be as sustainable as we can at the hospice, but like everyone, we do have waste that can’t always be recycled. Thanks to Smiths of Bloxham, any bulky waste is put into a skip that we have on-site all year round. The team at Smiths collect the skip when it’s full and replace it with a new one, at no cost to the hospice.  

Thank you

We are so lucky to have support all year round from local businesses who supply us with resources for our fundraising events, pro-bono work, raffle prizes, equipment for the garden, plus gifts for our patients at Christmas and Easter.  

We also have incredible support from our community through gifts on our Amazon Wish List, a list of all the bits and pieces that we don’t have the funding for, such as biscuits, alcohol, tea bags and shower gels. All the simple things that make our hospice a special place for our patients. 

We are grateful to every single business that supports us in this way, no matter now big or small the gift. By providing us with these gifts, businesses are not only helping us to keep costs down but also to make every moment matter for our patients and their loved ones.

If you are interested in supporting the hospice by providing a gift in kind, either as a one off or on a regular basis, please contact our fundraising team at [email protected].