Many celebrities have turned their attention to improving healthcare, creating substantial positive changes. Leading lights in the entertainment world have been involved in charity work, they’ve made donations and inspired others to give what they can too.
There are many advantages to having a celebrity supporting a charity, as it contributes to increasing awareness of campaigns, aligning together two brands with positive associations.
Emma Thompson
London-born actress and author Emma Thompson, 65, has been vocal in her support of providing quality care for elderly people. The BAFTA Award-winning star, who has performed in the West End, on television and in films, has a personal interest after helping to care for her sick grandmother in later life.
Emma’s mother, Phyllida Law, cared for her mum-in-law, Meg, who had dementia, for 17 years. Emma saw Meg’s gradual decline and feared Phyllida was buckling under the physical and mental strain.
Emma’s paternal grandmother lived in the family home and the actress helped in every way she could, including paying for respite care when her acting career took off to give her mum a break. Now aged 92, Phyllida said she would often cry, feeling alone and in despair. Night-time was particularly hard, as at dusk, Meg would become scared that she was in the wrong house.
Emma is calling for more help for people who care for loved ones, especially since Phyllida’s own Parkinson’s disease diagnosis, which has again brought home the lack of support for carers. She says there should be a “care nurse in every street” to help keep an eye on people with dementia and make sure the family carers have the help they need.
The actress is known to support at least 17 charities herself and made a “sizeable donation” to Mail Force in 2020 to purchase hygiene supplies such as care gloves for medical frontline staff during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Ed Sheeran charity work
Born in Halifax and brought up in the Suffolk market town of Framlingham, Ed Sheeran is an ambassador for numerous charities, donating his time, money and clothing to various worthy causes.
The 33-year-old rock and pop icon, who has sold more than 150 million records globally, has made continuous donations to the healthcare sector over many years, supporting hospice charities including East Anglia's Children's Hospices, St Richard’s Hospice in Worcester and St Elizabeth Hospice charity shop in Framlingham.
As well as donating more than 450 items of clothing to charity shops, he also donated a signed guitar to St Richard’s Hospice, which sold for £4,500 at auction. The hospice fundraising team auctioned the “unique and very special” guitar at Christmas 2017. A local person, who remained anonymous, won the auction.
A hospice spokesperson said the star had donated the guitar “in recognition of the services St Richard’s had provided to someone very special in Ed’s life”. The money raised will support patients of the hospice and their families, helping to provide care supplies and ongoing facilities.
He has also had a suite named after him at Mills Meadow Care Home in Framlingham, near where grew up. The residents had chosen the name Sheeran Suite themselves in recognition of their local hero. Ed visited the home in person to open the new suite and chat to residents in 2015. During the event, Care UK also presented him with a £500 cheque for his nominated charity, EACH.
In 2012, Ed played a special fundraising gig in Bristol that helped raise £40,000 for the local charity One 25, after learning of its invaluable work from someone he met when he volunteered at Crisis, a homeless shelter in London.
His stint volunteering when he was 18 inspired him to write The A Team, which became his first single in 2011.
Stephen Fry
Actor, comedian and writer Stephen Fry has supported many charities in the healthcare sector, including spearheading one fundraising campaign which led to a £1 million donation. The 66-year-old Hampstead-born star recorded a video as part of his support for the Priscilla Bacon Hospice Charity, which specialises in caring for patients with complex health needs.
In 2019, the charity launched its Break Ground fundraising campaign to build a specialist £12.5 million hospice in his local area of Norfolk. After Stephen lent his support to the fundraiser, his high-profile appeal spurred the John Pearce Foundation to donate £1 million, bringing the total to £8.4 million.
The large donation, combined with other financial gifts, meant the hospice was able to raise £1.7 million in just six months, enabling them to “break ground” and start building work on the Priscilla Bacon Lodge. It will comprise outreach and day patient facilities, 24 beds, a community nursing team centre and a hub for research and education into palliative care.
Stephen has also been fundraising for the Children’s Cancer and Leukaemia Group, narrating an audiobook, The Unicorn Who Saved Christmas, in aid of Super Ruby’s Rhabdo Raiser. He is president of Listening Books, the audiobook charity.
The appeal is raising money for further research into soft tissue cancer, as well as honouring the memory of Ruby Stewart, of Perthshire, who died in 2020, aged six, from alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma, a type of soft tissue sarcoma.
Her parents Andy and Claire launched the appeal, which had raised £170,000 before Stephen agreed to narrate the audiobook. It was written by the Stewart family’s friend, Derek Sword, inspired by Ruby’s Lapland holiday in December 2019. To date, the ongoing appeal has now raised £243,000.
Stephen has also been president of Mind, the mental health charity, since 2011 and supports Stand to Reason, which helps to fight prejudice against people who are mentally ill and establish their rights.
The star supports Cambridge Children’s Hospital, narrating a short film to raise its profile in March 2021.
As well as the practical and financial support celebrities give to charities, they also help to reach a wider audience, enabling the charity to engage with a different demographic and attract potential new supporters and donors.
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