A Scots baby loss charity is under threat of closure because it can no longer pay its bills. SiMBA is a lifeline to bereaved families who have lost babies but the charity is being hit by spiralling costs.
Since opening 18 years ago the organisation has been giving support to women and families in Edinburgh and Lothians from their office in Dalkeith. But their services could come to an end in as little as three months.
The charity has made a plea for "donations and fundraising" and has urged people to share their work so they can try and survive this "critical period" where they are struggling to make ends meet.
The charity provides memory boxes to break the stigma round miscarriages, stillbirths and neonatal deaths. The boxes are donated to hospitals across the UK and Ireland and contains many items like teddies, blankets and pictures.
Design company director Sara Kermode, 35, from Bonnyrigg, spoke to Edinburgh Live about the amazing work the charity does to support people. She said: "SiMBA helps you realise you can celebrate it in your own way or deal with it in your own way. They help you with grief when you have to bury your own child.
"They are an amazing company; they are so loving and giving and I think a lot of families rely on them. I think for some people they can't cope and are consumed on what happened and SiMBA does an amazing job of helping them.
"The staff are amazing, they are the most caring, loving people we have known them for nine years and they are like family to us."
Sara and her partner, Jonny Kermode, lost their baby, Rose, from a stillbirth in August 2014 and contacted SiMBA in early 2015. Since then, the couple have taken part in many charity events for SiMBA including: 10k runs, rowing and cycling events.
Sara went onto say she'd be "devastated" if SiMBA were to close. "There is not enough support out there for parents, woman, grandparents who lose a child," she said. "They need to be there because there isn't much out there."
She added: "The NHS is stretched as it is. There needs to be somewhere people can go and sit and cry or to meet new people and the security where people can go and be open about what they have been through."
CEO of SiMBA, Sara Fitzsimmons, made a plea in an attempt to save the charity. She said: "We are making an unprecedented appeal to the public, organisations, and businesses to help us through donations, fundraising; sharing our story, or in whatever way they can, so we survive this critical period and continue to support bereaved families when they need us most.
"We don't want any bereaved family who in the future loses their baby not to have the gift of a precious Memory Box."
If you want to donate to help to save SiMBA click the link here.
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