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Started by women who had been through it
Nearly twenty years on, we’re still run by volunteers, still local, and we still answer the phone.
Gibraltar from the Upper Rock. Photo: Michal Mrozek
A kitchen-table charity
In 2007 a small group of Gibraltarian women, most of whom had been through breast cancer themselves, sat round a kitchen table and decided something had to change. There was no local charity, nobody to call when the consultant left the room, and nobody to drive you home from the airport after treatment in Spain.
So they started one, with a phone, a notebook and a promise: if anyone calls, someone answers.
We’ve kept that promise. Over the years we’ve helped pay for a cold cap machine, an ultrasound scanner, the oncology suite at St Bernard’s, biopsy chairs and M&S vouchers for newly diagnosed women. But we haven’t really changed. The chair still knows your name, many of the team have sat in the same chemotherapy chair you will, and every pound raised is spent in Gibraltar.
Mercy Posso, former chair of BCSG.
What we won’t budge on
Money raised here is spent here
Every pound we raise in Gibraltar is spent on people in Gibraltar. There’s no head office in London and no admin fee. The treasurer is a volunteer, and so is the chair.
Everything is free
Listening, information, vouchers, hospital visits, hand-holding. Nobody ever pays to be helped by us.
We’ve been there
Most of our volunteers have had breast cancer themselves, or have been through it with someone they love. That’s the whole point of us.
Our history
BCSG is founded
A handful of women, a phone, and the promise that nobody in Gibraltar should face breast cancer alone.
The first Walkers for Knockers
A small walk among friends that became our biggest event of the year.
The M&S Gibraltar voucher scheme
A bra voucher for every newly diagnosed woman. A small thing that matters when nothing fits any more.
A cold cap machine for St Bernard’s
Paid for by community donations, it helps people keep their hair through chemotherapy.
The phone stayed on through the pandemic
Doorstep deliveries, video calls and handwritten letters.
The oncology suite at St Bernard’s is refurbished
Money raised in Gibraltar, spent where Gibraltar’s patients are treated.
Still here, still run by volunteers
Same phone number, same promise, and a new website.
The people who answer the phone
All of them volunteers. Several have been through breast cancer themselves.
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Chair
Heidi Alman Jeffries
“This charity exists because somebody once made a phone call. We answer every one.”
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Volunteer and former chair
Mercy Posso
“I joined as a volunteer because someone was there for me. Twenty years later, I’m still here for the same reason.”
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Volunteer, events
Shereen Pizzarello
“Walking the Rock with a hundred women in pink, that’s when it stops feeling like ‘my’ cancer and starts feeling like ‘our’ fight.”
Move the Boob, 2022
Behind them are dozens more volunteers who help at events, drive people to hospital, deliver vouchers and answer the phone.
Where the money goes
We’re small and run by volunteers, so our running costs are tiny. Almost everything you give goes on care, equipment and local support. This is some of what donors have paid for over the years.
- £250k+
Oncology suite
Refurbishment at St Bernard’s Hospital.
- £42k
Cold cap machine
Helps people keep their hair through chemotherapy.
- £38k
Portable ultrasound
For earlier diagnosis.
- £18k
Biopsy chair
A specialist chair, donated to the GHA.
- £25
Each bra voucher
For every newly diagnosed patient, ongoing.
- £8k
Every year
Counselling, travel costs and hardship support.