EAST Lancashire Hospice wants your help... by getting as many votes as possible to get a share of some cash and help people in need.

The Gannett Foundation is providing the whopping amount of cash to support good causes across the country – and we are delighted to have a £16k share to give away in the North West/North Wales region.

The hospice, based in Blackburn, was selected as the local representative as they provide a special way of caring to people suffering from life limiting illnesses throughout Blackburn, Darwen, Hyndburn and the Ribble Valley .

The charity needs you to collect tokens from our newspapers which can then be sent to collection points across our region or posted.

Each token collected will then be used to allocate cash to the nominated charity – so if your favourite charity collects 50 per cent of all to tokens collected, it will receive 50 per cent of the £16,000.

Hilary Barrett, chief executive, said: “East Lancashire Hospice is grateful to the Gannett Foundation, the Lancashire Telegraph and the community for giving us an opportunity to access funding for our bathing services. The bathing service allows people in our community to access facilities here at the hospice they cannot access at home safely and in comfort.

“Your support will pay to upgrade the equipment needed to allow more people from the community to use this service.

“It is thanks to our present donors and supporters we have been able to introduce this service but wish to make it accessible to more of the community. With your continued help, this will now be possible.”

One person who has seen the benefits was Brian Clarke, who used the bereavement services after his wife died and found the service invaluable.

He said: “I took up the services around six months after my wife passed. I would arrive early, a good 30 minutes in advance of my appointment, so I could just wait in reception. The area was so calm. It truly helped.

“One day a nurse walked passed and smiled. She then stopped and said hello. I was astonished because she remembered my name and my wife’s name, even though it had been six months and she must surely have met many other families, dealt with many other patients in that time. I meant so much to me that she knew me.

“That’s why we want to continue to help the hospice. That’s how you have made a difference to us as a family.”

To find out about how you can support the hospice by reading the voucher below.

All vouchers have to be in by Sunday, November 20, but there are number of collection points locally. They are: East Lancashire Hospice reception: Park Lee Road, Blackburn, Café Retreat, Park Lee Road, Blackburn, East Lancashire Hospice Shop Darwen, 2-6 Bridge Street, Darwen, Daisys For East Lancashire, 7 Moor Lane, Clitheroe, Daisys For East Lancashire, Great Harwood, Daisy’s for East Lancashire, 781 Whalley New Road, Brownhill, Wilpshire.