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The woman who brings a little light to families’ darkest hours

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LIFE as Robin House’s chaplain can be busy.

But energy shouldn’t be a problem for Amanda Reid she’s a former fitness instructor, pilates teacher and boot camp leader!

The 46-year-old from Drymen was set to return to university at the age of 29 to do a Masters in sports science when she felt a call to the ministry and ended up doing a theology degree instead.

But with three children and a full-time job tending to the spiritual and emotional needs of the Robin House families to juggle, being fit must come in handy.

“It’s different from hospital chaplaincy it’s quite intense,” says Amanda. “When a child dies the family are at the hospice all the time and I’m there full-time.

“I also conduct around 98% of the funerals for Robin House.”

As well as the emotional intensity, there is a great variety to her role.

“Every day is different,” she says. “This afternoon I’m going to visit a young boy who realises he is going to die and he wants answers. He wants to talk about death and dying, about planning his funeral.

“Then I’m going to meet a family whose child is dying they want to know what happens, to start planning ahead.

“But I also do baptisms. I baptised a little baby and his brother last year. And few weeks later conducted the funeral of the baby. It can be bitter-sweet there are celebrations and sadness.”

Amanda’s connection with Robin House began around seven years ago. She’d been a parish minister in Dumbarton but had taken a few years off to raise her family.

During that time she retrained as a pilates instructor and also began running boot camps and teaching just about every fitness programme under the sun.

She also started volunteering one day a week at the hospice.

“I felt very passionate about it,” explains Amanda. “My youngest son has Asperger’s and it made me realise children are just so vulnerable. I really wanted to be involved in some way.

“They didn’t have volunteer chaplains, so I was an activities volunteer. I was working with bereaved siblings so I was still doing my ministry bit.”

When the chance came to step into a chaplaincy role at Robin House two years ago, Amanda grabbed it with both hands.

It’s not always easy, but for Amanda it’s all about doing what she can to help the families during their darkest hours.

She says: “The way I look at it is that I can’t do anything to stop these children from dying, but I can be there to support the families. I feel very privileged to be invited into their lives at that time.”

It must be hard to lose children, though?

“Absolutely,” sighs Amanda. “Because you get to know the children, you play with them. It is really hard.

“It’s heartbreaking when the child dies. But it’s rewarding because the tiny things that we do mean so much to the parents.

“And it’s not just parents, actually. I’ve just been with a grandmother whose granddaughter died a few months ago. So it’s the whole family that we look after.”

Despite being a chaplain, Amanda takes care of people of all faiths or none.

“I’m there for all religions,” she explains. “Some people are worried about the word chaplain, but for me it’s only about the child and what the family wants. It’s the last thing the family can do for their child, planning their funeral.

“A lot of the time people say they don’t want a religious service, and that’s fine because it’s not about me imposing my faith on anyone. It’s about them saying goodbye to their child.

“Having said that, quite often as time goes on people will ask for a little prayer. It’s about hope. Hope that they will see their child again.”

And what about the Oor Hoose appeal? Will that have an impact on her job?

“I’m really excited about the new Garden Room!” Amanda enthuses. “It will be a place I’ll be able to have difficult conversations with families. And the new play areas are going to be fantastic.

“I’m really excited about it. Please keep raising money, everyone!”

It’s not long before Amanda has to head off to be a compassionate listening ear or a shoulder to cry on for somebody. But she leaves with a thought about how her role makes her feel.

“Out of all the sadness you do make a difference in people’s lives. You get an email or text from a family and it will say how the whole team at Robin House made a big difference to them.

“That makes it all worthwhile.”Oor Hoose introducing our campaign to raise a million pounds for Robin House – click here How to donate

Robin House is 10 years old and what better present than another amazing show of kindness?

CHAS is about to embark on a major programme of renovations, refurbishment and building to bring the hospice bang up to date and offer even better facilities to the children, teenagers and families who use it.

We want to raise £1 million and that’s where you come in.

We’ve tried to make it as easy as possible for you to give, so there are several ways to donate. And please use Gift Aid if you can.

TEXT Text CHAS10, leave a space then enter the amount you want to give (eg CHAS10 £10) to 70070. It is important you include a £ sign

ONLINE Go to the Oor Hoose JustGiving page at

campaign.justgiving.com/charity/chas/oorhoose

or give via www.chas.org.uk

CHEQUE Send cheques payable to Children’s Hospice Association Scotland (CHAS) to: Oor Hoose, CHAS 10, 2nd Floor, Buchanan Tower, Cumbernauld Road, Stepps, G33 6HZ.10 great ways to get involved in the Oor Hoose campaign – click here