Cancer Card Comfort Boxes: Supporting Cancer Patients in the Glenkerie Windfarm Area
Regional delivery provides positive localised approach.
The Importance of Localised Regional Funding
Community benefit funds from renewable energy developments play a crucial role in supporting local communities, yet their impact can be significantly enhanced through coordinated wider regional funding approaches that maintain strong local focus. Cancer Card's work across both the Glenkerie Wind Farm Community Benefit Fund in the South Lanarkshire and Scottish Borders area and the neighbouring communities of Coalburn, Douglas and Glespin Community Fund area demonstrates how organisations can effectively serve multiple adjacent communities whilst ensuring each area receives tailored, locally-relevant support.
This approach recognises that whilst communities may be served by different funding streams, the challenges they face—particularly around healthcare and social isolation in rural areas—often transcend administrative boundaries. By developing expertise and partnerships in one area, organisations can efficiently extend proven interventions to neighbouring communities, maximising the collective impact of regional funding whilst ensuring each community's specific needs and characteristics are understood and addressed. The success of this model lies in combining operational efficiency with genuine local engagement, ensuring that regional reach never comes at the expense of localised, community-centred delivery.
About Cancer Card
Cancer Card is a Scottish charity established in 2021 and headquartered in Edinburgh. The organisation operates as an online hub providing cancer patients and their families with access to a comprehensive 24/7 non-medical support community. With over 3,000 users per month, Cancer Card serves as a roadmap connecting patients to national and local voluntary organisations, offering real-life tips, support services, and testimonials from others who have experienced similar journeys.
The Project
Building on successful pilot work, Cancer Card developed the Comfort Boxes for Cancer Buddies project to support newly diagnosed cancer patients in the Glenkerie Fund area. The project aimed to provide essential items and information to vulnerable patients at the start of their cancer journey, removing financial barriers and offering practical support during a particularly challenging time. The group received £4,250 of funding from the Fund to support with distributing 75 Cancer Card Boxes across the Fund area. Each comfort box contained high-quality essential items including a washable recycled comfort blanket (retail value £80), thermometer, scarf, notepad, pen, thermal travel mug, and crucially, information about available support services along with a message of hope. Despite the retail value exceeding £100 per box, partnerships and sponsorship enabled Cancer Card to contain costs to £50 per box.
Project Outcomes and Impact
Direct Support Delivered:As the project has reached its conclusion, it has successfully reached 112 cancer patients in the Biggar catchment area, directly delivering comfort boxes to their homes. Beyond the direct recipients, the initiative supported approximately 200 people affected by cancer through the broader distribution of information and leaflets throughout the community.
Geographic Reach: The project covered the ML12 postcode area, focusing primarily on patients registered with Biggar Medical Practice, which serves approximately 8,000 patients with 90% of the fund area registered there. The initiative extended support to rural communities including Biggar, Symington, Stobo, Skirling, Roberton, Lamington, Wiston, and villages extending into the Scottish Borders. Recognising the needs of neighbouring communities, Cancer Card funded an additional 32 boxes from their own reserves for patients just outside the designated area.
Partnership Network: The project's success was built on strong collaborative partnerships across the healthcare and voluntary sectors. Key partners included NHS Lanarkshire – University Hospital Wishaw, Maggies Lanarkshire, The Haven, Gillespie Centre in Biggar, Biggar GP practice and community link nurses, Lanarkshire Cancer Care Trust, and Healthy Valleys.
These established partnerships enabled effective referral protocols, with most comfort box referrals coming directly through these trusted healthcare and support networks, ensuring the most vulnerable patients were reached efficiently and appropriately.
Community Engagement: Cancer Card distributed over 1,500 leaflets and cards throughout the Fund area, utilising local knowledge and community connections to ensure maximum reach. Community-based information sessions and collection points were established in local community centres.
Why the Project Mattered
Addressing Rural Challenges: The project recognised the particular vulnerabilities of rural cancer patients who may face additional isolation and limited access to support services. The comfort boxes provided both practical items and crucial signposting to available help, delivered directly to patients' homes.
Emotional Support: Feedback consistently highlighted the emotional impact of receiving the boxes. One recipient shared: "I felt quite emotional when I opened the box and realised what it was. What a fantastic gift and so timely as I start a few weeks radiotherapy next week. I am staggered by your generosity."
Another recipient noted: “Thank you from the bottom of my heart. I will tell all my friends and maybe try and do a little fundraiser to try and thank you for your generosity. It won’t be much but I am sure a few cakes might raise a few pounds. We all support each other."
Project Success and Sustainability
The positive feedback from both recipients and healthcare partners demonstrated the project's effectiveness in supporting some of the most vulnerable members of the community. The robust referral system, developed through learning from earlier pilots, ensured appropriate targeting whilst maintaining patient confidentiality. The project's success has established a foundation for continued work in the Glenkerie area.
The lessons learned and partnerships developed have been applied to support cancer patients in neighbouring community benefit areas, including the Coalburn, Douglas and Glespin fund area. This demonstrates how community benefit funding can achieve further impact through thoughtful coordination across boundaries—building regional expertise whilst ensuring each area receives genuinely localised support that reflects its specific needs and existing support networks.