Donor Stories
Although our donors are all special people who have concern for others and have put that concern into action, sometimes there are special circumstances related to a particular donor or a particular donation, which we feel are inspiring food for thought. These are their stories.

Fragrant Flowers from a Stately Home

Viscountess Caroline Windsor supports Ganga Prem Hospice in an innovative way that brings pleasure to everyone involved. She grows flowers in the famous walled garden at her stately home near Ludlow, Shropshire and sells them outside the Ludlow Food Centre which was set up in 2007 by the Windsors and is attractively located in the Estate grounds. All the proceeds for one year were donated to Ganga Prem Hospice.

Lady Caroline is married to Viscount Ivor Edward Windsor, the son and direct heir to the present Earl of Plymouth. The family's connection to India is well known and Lady Caroline's only daughter among her four children is, not surprisingly, named India. However the connection is more than a matter of history. Lady Caroline's spiritual interests often bring her to Rishikesh where she is a devotee at Shivananda Ashram. On one such visit, she spent time at Nani Ma's ashram near Uttarkashi and became interested in supporting Ganga Prem Hospice.

Lady Caroline says, "It brings me such joy to grow these flowers, watch them blossom and then pick them, thinking all the while of the work that Ganga Prem Hospice does… the patients, the voluntary helpers, the doctors, nurses and drivers.

Lady Caroline donates the proceeds from selling the flowers to Ganga Prem Hospice along with other money that she raises by arranging cut flowers at society weddings. The fragrance of the flowers from the old walled garden in Shropshire, mingled with Lady Caroline's compassion and love for India, surely wafts across the world and helps to alleviate the pain and suffering of the poor cancer patients of Ganga Prem Hospice in the Himalayan foothills.

She still donates the royalties from her granola and 'Rich Seville Orange Marmalade,' which has won the World Gold Medal for marmalade this year and is on sale at Fortrum and Masons in London.

Hidden Heroes: Pete and Margot

Pete and Margot are regular donors to Ganga Prem Hospice. They are enthusiastic about helping in any way they can. Margot scans the web for new ideas on fundraising and Pete spends a great deal of his spare time having fundraising brainwaves and writing to potential donors about the Hospice in his own innovative style. So what's so special about them? Well, Margot has advanced multiple sclerosis (MS) and is paralysed from her neck down, and Pete, her husband and only carer, looks after her 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

About Ganga Prem Hospice, Pete writes, "Í saw immediately the huge potential for good that these people were dreaming up. Not only the compassionate care of poor people who would otherwise die in agony and isolation—as if that's not enough—but the future potential to become a centre of excellence in the North of India as the excellent centre in Kerala is for the South. Our dream is that in a few years doctors and nurses from all over India will come to Ganga Prem as training interns!

"Our small involvement with GPH has been an extraordinary journey challenging us to look at what big words like 'generosity' can mean in practice and really just how true it is that 'it's in the giving that we receive.'

"It is painful for us to realise that being 'spiritual' was so easily seen in the past as being about us, and being 'special,' at the centre of the universe...
We now see that just how we transform the "good words" and pious intentions into small compassionate acts is what counts. All the rest is just the little ego telling its tales... Puffing away...

"This week Margot took delivery of a new laser controlled computer that lets her type using the pupils of her eyes. She has advanced MS and is paralysed from the neck down. Despite that she continues to write her novel and has written over 61,000 words! This will enable her to continue and we are so very grateful for this.

"It is about counting our blessings and looking at how we can share the little we have with Kartik and his family and all of our other brothers and sisters around the world (and around the corner)."