Two ladies support St Richard’s Hospital by shaving locks during lockdown

Harsha Desai from Petworth has already raised more than £4,500 for The Friends of Chichester Hospitals when she braved the shave on Saturday, April 18, while Emily Wentzell from Pagham will face the chop on Friday to mark her wedding anniversary.

This extra support comes at a time The Friends have been overwhelmed by thoughtful messages and generous donations, including a surprise anonymous contribution of £10,000.

Friends’ chairman, Jane Ramage, said: “This support really will help the Friends to make a difference for St Richard’s Hospital during this challenging time, especially when income is reduced because our shop has had to be closed for the time being.

“The Friends have been able to donate toiletry packs and are also funding lifesaving resus equipment. We have also had an amazing coincidence – two wonderful supporters, quite unknown to each other, decided to shave their hair to raise funds for the Friends.”

Harsha, who has supported the Friends for over seven years since her daughter was born at St Richard’s, said she was ‘blown away’ by the amount she had managed to raise.

She said: “My family had planned a curry supper evening to help raise funds for Friends of Chichester Hospitals, but that was cancelled due to Covid-19.

“I still wanted to find a way to raise some money for this charity so asked a member of my family to shave my hair off.”

Emily will follow in Harsha’s footsteps by having her husband shave her shoulder-length hair.

She said: “Since I haven’t had a haircut since last September, I’ve decided to coincide what was desperately needed when lockdown happened, with raising money for our NHS angels that have been putting their lives on the line every day to see that we all are safe. They help thousands upon thousands of us, while they cannot even hug their own families. This is not just my own personal cause, but for everyone that has parents and grandparents, grandchildren and children”.

My local hospital, St Richards in Chichester will be the beneficiary of my fundraising. This is where I gave birth to my daughter, and I desperately want to help if I can.”

Supporters can watch Emily’s “ brave shave” live on Friday 24th April at 8pm -

https://facebook.com/events/s/no1-shave-for-the-nhs/538931126762551/?ti=icl

To support Harsha, visit https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/HarshaDesai and to support Emily, visit http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/EmilyWentzell

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