Welcome to Homes With Heart
Welcome to a unique organization which lets holiday home owners donate spare weeks in their property to families who desperately need a break - families where either a child or parent is terminally ill or has a life-limiting disease.
Homes with Heart began early in 2008 and our first successful introduction was for a family referred by CHASE. The two sons both needed special care and a kind homeowner offered them a week in June in their beach house in Kingsand, Cornwall. Since that week, 70 holiday home owners have joined the scheme, and 30 holidays have been arranged.
All of these families were referred because their healthcare workers saw the impact that the constant cycle of illness and treatment was having on the whole family, not just on the patient. Often, a week’s break would be something to focus on and aim for, but this is just the time when parents are too exhausted to plan ahead.
Charities cannot generally accept the offer of a private holiday home because they have no system to manage it. I know this because I tried many times to offer my own holiday house and was always turned down, gently and with regret, but turned down nonetheless. Did you know that that there are around 110,000 holiday homes in the UK? That’s a huge untapped source of respite for healthcare professionals and hospices to draw from in order to help their families.
We are the only organization which allows homeowners to ‘bank’ a week and healthcare professionals to ‘withdraw’. So please consider donating a week in your holiday home or, if you are reading this and think that families you support could benefit from this service, do get in touch. Homes with Heart may be small but that means that we can match each holiday with care and flexibility.
With best wishes
Jane Palliser
Founder
