Paperwork Forces Charity Workers To Call It A Day

A charity which has helped hundreds of seriously ill children to enjoy a holiday is to be disbanded later this year. Advancing years, coupled with a dramatic increase in paperwork for the national charity regulator, have convinced the two former nurses who set up The Sunshine Holiday Fund to wind up the charity.

Over the past two decades, Cath MacKenzie and Margaret Munro raised almost £300,000 to arrange 660 holidays for children with life threatening conditions and their families.

It all started in 1989 when Mrs MacKenzie was ward sister and Mrs Munro was a staff nurse in the paediatrics ward at Raigmore Hospital.

They saw a little girl struggling to overcome cystic fibrosis whose ambition was to visit Butlins, although her family could never afford it.

They set about raising the money to send her there but were so successful that soon she was off to Disneyland in Florida with her mother and sister, joined by another patient with her family too.

In following years, hundreds of other seriously ill children and their families were given the chance to enjoy a holiday, with visits to Santa in Lapland being a particular favourite. But recent changes in rules governing charities have made the womens’ efforts increasingly difficult.

“We have found it hard going for the past few years,” Mrs Munro said. “We are retired now and we want to enjoy our retirement.”

Despite this, both women intend to carry on with their voluntary work with the blind in Inverness but the eight to 10 hours per week they spend raising money and arranging holidays for children referred by hospital staff has grown too much for them.

“Charities now have professional fund-raisers because there is so much work involved with it all these days,” Mrs MacKenzie said.

“The bureaucracy has become far too much. We understand why they have to do it, in case somebody isn’t genuine, but it has made it very hard for everyone who just wants to help people.

“The forms take a long time to fill in. In fact you need an accountant to do that for you.”

Fortunately, Mrs MacKenzie’s neighbours in the Drakies area of Inverness are accountants and have helped the charity complete its returns to the Office of the Scottish Charities Regulator for no charge. She explained that large charities spend huge sums keeping track of costs to satisfy the regulator. “That is not what people give their money to charity for,” she added.

The pair’s final ambition, before they wind up the charity on its 19th anniversary later this year is to use the final £20,000 in the pot to organise another 40 holidays for sick children, taking their overall tally beyond 700.

“We have stopped collecting but, over the summer, we will be doing the holidays for the ones the nurses and social workers refer to us,” Mrs MacKenzie said.

Mrs Munro, also from Inverness, added: “It has been a lot of fun over the years raising the money to send families off on holiday. So many people have helped us and we would like to thank all our past and present committee members, sponsors and fund-raisers.”