BRENDAN Rodgers has told how donating the sale of his late parents' home to the Northern Ireland Hospice is a way of honouring his mother's dedication to charity work.
The former Liverpool manager also said he wanted to support the hospice after the care provided to his father Malachy before his death from cancer.
His donation of almost £100,000 will be used for a nurse call system at the new £13m adult hospice nearing completion built on Belfast's Somerton Road.
Rodgers, who was last month unveiled as an ambassador for the NI Hospice and Children's Hospice, bought the house for his parents in the Glenbrook area of Carnlough after they decided to downsize from the family home in the Co Antrim village.
In 2010 his mother Christina died after suffering a heart attack, aged just 53.
A year later, his 59-year-old father Malachy passed away following a battle with throat cancer.
Rodgers said he had now found a way of continuing his mother's legacy of charity work by donating the sale of the house to NI Hospice.
"My mother was a big charity worker, she did a lot for Trócaire," he told The Irish News.
"I just felt it was an opportunity to do something in my mum's memory, especially because she was such a big charity worker. She spent her life trying to help others, trying to raise money to help others.
"It's something for the hospice, it felt like the right thing to do, it was about putting the money to good use and I know that it will be in the hospice.
"I know that she would have been happy that I have done this."
Rodgers also described how his father received hospice care during his battle with throat cancer and he was delighted his donation would be put to good use by the charity.
"Dad was treated in Antrim hospice when he was in the incurable stages of the disease," he said.
"It's always something that has stuck with me, how much the people who work at the hospice put into caring for people. I've said it before, they're like angels, and they really are.
"One hundred per cent of the sale of the house goes to the hospice and to see that it's going to the call system is great. When it's something tangible that you can see, then it feels all the more worthwhile."
Siofra Healy from the NI Hospice said it was an "amazing gesture".
"Naturally we were overwhelmed at such a generous donation and also the generosity which Brendan and his family were offering to us in terms of their time and support," she said.
"Brendan has said before that he admired the work and professionalism of hospice nurses, and so it is fitting that his donation will fund a state-of-the-art nurse call system in our new adult hospice in Belfast - a system that will help us make great advancements in delivering the highest quality palliative care to patients during the most difficult time in their lives.
"We are just a matter of weeks away from opening the new hospice and at a crucial stage raising funds for the of fitting-out of 18 private patient bedrooms - the support from people like Brendan, businesses, organisations and community has been amazing thus far.
"Without this generosity, we would not be able to maintain the highest standard of hospice care that people in Northern Ireland deserve."
