Last year s Christmas appeal from the music star and London Freemason Rick Wakeman on behalf of the small charity Lifelites has raised over £42,000 to support the life-limited and disabled children using hospice services with life-changing technologies.

Since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, we can all better understand how being isolated and disconnected from friends and family can make us feel. The pandemic means that the vulnerable life-limited and disabled children using hospice services are more isolated than ever, and will remain so for the foreseeable future.

Thanks to the vital support from the London Freemasons, Lifelites can continue to provide life-changing technology that will enable these children to learn, play, communicate, and, most importantly, to express their feelings during this difficult and unsettling time.

Over the past few months, Lifelites has adapted its services in order to continue to donate this technology for children using hospice services. Hospice staff training is now done online, and as ever, donated technology is mobile so children can use it in their homes.

London Freemason and Patron of Lifelites, Rick Wakeman, is appealing to all London Lodges this Christmas to continue their support for this worthy cause.

Rick said: Life-limited and disabled children depend on Lifelites assistive technology to communicate with their mum, play with their dad, and make music with their brothers and sisters.

This Christmas more than ever, I ask that you join me again in supporting Lifelites vital work, to give these vulnerable children donations of lifechanging technologies so that they can escape the confines of their conditions and have the chance join in with the world around them.

Lifelites empowers 10,000 children and young people in hospices with life-limiting, life-threatening illnesses and disabling conditions by providing them with opportunities to benefit from the power of assistive and inclusive technologies to learn, to be creative, to communicate and to take control.

There is a Lifelites project in every one of the 60 baby and children’s hospice services across the British Isles. The hospices do not pay a penny towards their Lifelites project and all of Lifelites work is funded by donations: the equipment, ongoing technical support and training at each hospice costs around £50,000 over four years.

www.lifelites.org

This article is part of the Arena Magazine, Issue 43 January 2021 edition.
Arena Magazine is the official magazine of the London Freemasons – Metropolitan Grand Lodge and Metropolitan Grand Chapter of London.

Read more articles in the Arena Issue 43.