Sunflower Days campaign to raise funds for hospice care

Volunteers will take to the streets of towns and cities across the country to sell sunflower seeds and pins in aid of Irish hospices.

Today and tomorrow are Hospice Sunflower Days, the annual fundraising campaign run by the Irish Hospice Foundation (IHF).

People will be able to support their local hospice service by buying a sunflower pin or sunflower seeds for €2 each from collectors on the streets of cities, towns and villages around the country.

Sunflower Days is a major source of income for hospices and voluntary hospice groups countrywide. The IHF coordinates the event on behalf of the hospice movement but all of the funds raised locally stay locally.

Over 6,000 use hospice services every year and an estimated 13,000 patients will require access to hospice and palliative care in 2016.

Kirana Bhagwan of the IHF said a small €2 donation today could go a long way.

"The money raised from Hospice Sunflower Days will go towards local services, and depending on the needs of that service it will go towards funding nurses, or the running of the hospice itself, or even providing equipment for people at home (who) maybe will die at home.

"So it's a very, very important service."