Any person who has raised more than £90,000 for their favourite charity surely deserves to be called a champion supporter.
But Karen Keady admits that until her mum Ann became a St Luke's patient 18 years ago, she knew very little about us or the work we do supporting terminally ill people throughout Sheffield.
Now, though, as her efforts head towards the £100,000 mark, Karen has become not just a leading St Luke's fundraiser but also a major advocate for hospice care.
“I really didn’t know what St Luke’s was or what it did until mum was fortunate enough to get a place there when she was transferred from Weston Park Hospital, where she had been receiving treatment,” Karen says.
“Over the weeks that followed, dad was able to stay with her and for me it became part of my daily routine, going to work early, doing my seven hours and then going to St Luke’s and spending the rest of the afternoon with mum.
“The thing that I remember after all these years is that they gave us space to be there as a family – dad and me, my brother and sister - and I think that’s why I started to feel I was part of St Luke’s.
“The care was fantastic and nothing ever felt as if it was to much trouble and the important thing was that mum was a person, not a patient – it was all about her individual routines and requirements, rather than her having to fit in.
“The atmosphere was always very serene and very calm and the word that always comes to mind for me is dignity.”
Spending so many weeks at St Luke’s, however, also gradually gave Karen a greater understanding of the way the charity functions.
“My sister and I were sitting at the hospice one day and it was then that I became aware of how much funding St Luke’s needs – and we were absolutely gobsmacked to find everything there is so reliant on public funding and that’s when I knew we needed to do something big.”
The fundraising started out with cake sales, sponsored walks and even a sponsored sky dive but the event that would change everything and bring in major funding and support was the now famous annual ball.
Karen is the first to admit that the original idea wasn’t hers – the ball was first staged by friend Marie Osborne.
But when Marie decided that she couldn’t continue to head the project, Karen stepped forward – and the rest is St Luke’s fundraising history!
The annual ball – usually held at Sheffield’s Crowne Plaza Royal Victoria Hotel – has seen Karen’s fundraising total rise to more than £90,000.
She is keen to point, that the work is very much a team effort and couldn’t happen without the support of husband Kevin and her friends and fellow fundraisers Jackie Last, Joanne Keady, Fiona Duxbury, Jane Ashford and Leisa Harrison.
“We are a group of people all working together and that’s what makes the ball happen,” she insists.
This year’s fundraiser moves to a new setting, Sheffield event space Steam Works, on September 13 and will have a 1940s theme to coincide with the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War.
Tickets cost £66 per person and will include canapes and a two-course dinner, a raffle, auction, market stalls, gin-tasting and live music from popular city band Dizzy Club – all with the emphasis on capturing the very special spirit of VE Day.
“We thought this year would be a good year to try something a bit different and we really hope everybody gets into the spirit of the evening,” Karen says.
But before the siren has even sounded on recreating the atmosphere of VE Night, the team are already planning their 2026 event, which will most probably see a return to ballroom style glamour at the Royal Victoria with a Regency-style Bridgerton theme.
“We’re hoping to get to £100,000 this year but the fundraising never stops and there’s always an idea for next time,” Karen admits.
“Because of the level of care and the attitude of the staff, there is such a sense of reassurance at St Luke’s – and I want that to continue.”
To book places for Karen’s VE Day 80th Anniversary event call 07792 332318 or click here