Collaboration in our communities and acts of kindness

It’s been an incredibly tough year for the nation but amongst all of the uncertainty, it has been fantastic to see communities and businesses joining forces and working together in response to the Coronavirus outbreak.

We’ve read lots of heart-warming stories online of how people are going above and beyond to help and support others. Times like these show the power of collaboration and community spirit and we wanted to share just a few examples from across the Right at Home network.

————————————————————————————————————————–

Right at Home Eastbourne 

Hotel Chocolat has very kindly allowed their staff to donate sweet treats to key workers of their choice and the store manager of Hotel Chocolat Eastbourne, Trudie, chose Right at Home Eastbourne because they look after her partner’s Grandma. 

CareGivers were given an individually wrapped gift parcel which was filled with goodies and a thank you message attached.

A big thank you to Hotel Chocolat for your generosity and kindness.

Right at Home Borehamwood and Watford

A neighbour of Right at Home Borehamwood and Watford, who works with restaurants in the local area, very kindly provided CareGivers and Clients with some delicious food parcels including Shepherd’s Pie followed by Panna Cotta!

The office is also taking part in a fantastic scheme called Karshare, where local community members donate their own unused cars for NHS and care workers in the community to use for free during the coronavirus outbreak. The cars are insured and have been professionally cleaned prior to them being loaned and cleaned again once returned. This is a wonderful idea and the scheme wouldn’t be possible without the generosity of people in the local community.

————————————————————————————————————————–

Right at Home South Liverpool

Clients of Right at Home South Liverpool were surprised by pupils at a nearby school, with goodies to cheer them up whilst they remain indoors during the coronavirus outbreak.

Budding artists at Northcote Primary School created a ‘bouquet’ for 96-year old Client, Eileen, along with letters to keep her spirits up whilst self-isolating.

A few days later, much to the delight of the pupils, Eileen’s daughter wrote back, thanking them for their kindness and for making her mother smile during this difficult time and Eileen also sent a letter to the children.

All of the pupils are children of frontline workers. The school has since created more cards and written letters for four more Clients of Right at Home. You can read more on this story here.

————————————————————————————————————————–

Right at Home Havant and District

Tesco Extra in Havant has very generously donated 50 Easter Eggs as a treat for the care team at Right at Home Havant and District. Here’s Managing Director and Owner, Duncan Cameron, collecting the eggs last month.

————————————————————————————————————————–

Right at Home South Cheshire 

Morrisons in Nantwich very kindly donated 70 Easter Eggs to Right at Home South Cheshire for CareGivers to distribute to Clients over the Easter weekend – thank you!

————————————————————————————————————————–

Right at Home GF

The team at Right at Home GF are offering a phone companionship service ‘Friends:Listen‘ where they connect their volunteers with vulnerable members of their community, currently in isolation. Each week, or potentially several times a week, a volunteer will be in touch for a chat. Each call will check that the person is OK, learn more about their life and the volunteer will share a little of theirs.

All of their volunteers are DBS checked and their identity checked so those using the service can be sure that they are in safe hands.

Right at Home GF is also offering a shopping service, called ‘Friends:Shopping‘ in response to the coronavirus outbreak. Its shopping services enable older and vulnerable people to get their weekly shop delivered straight to their door.

The office has recruited more than 120 wonderful volunteers across Guildford, Farnham, Fleet, Bordon & Alton to operate these two services.

————————————————————————————————————————–

Right at Home Mid Sussex

CareGivers at Right at Home Mid Sussex have been brightening their Clients’ days by handing out beautiful bunches of flowers from Sainsbury’s.

————————————————————————————————————————–

Right at Home Sutton and Epsom

Harry’s wife Maureen – a Client of Right at Home Sutton and Epsom – sadly passed away recently after a long battle with dementia. They were a devoted couple and had been married for over 70 years. This week (24 April) Harry celebrated his 93rd birthday. He also said goodbye to Maureen whose funeral was held on the same week. Being in self-isolation and due to COVID-19 restrictions, Harry was unable to attend her funeral and had to listen to the service at the other end of the phone. This made him very sad. Some of Maureen’s CareGivers – Carol, Karen, Ruth and Tina – were so moved when they heard what had happened they paid Harry a visit.

They baked him a cake and gathered outside his window to sing to him and wish him happy birthday. Harry, a gentle soul with a kind word for everyone, was thrilled he had not been forgotten by our CareGivers, who over the years had become his friends.

————————————————————————————————————————–

Right at Home Derby

Right at Home Derby received a hugely generous donation of 150 delicious cakes from Half Baked Ideas, each individually packaged for their CareGivers to say thank you for the amazing work they are doing in the community.

————————————————————————————————————————–

Right at Home Cardiff and Newport 

The team at Right at Home Cardiff and Newport have been calling for people to send in letters and homemade cards that they can pass on to Clients. Not only is this a great idea to brighten up their Clients’ days, it also a great activity for all the family to get involved with.

————————————————————————————————————————–

Our network has also been creating care packages for our CareGivers. Here are just two examples from Right at Home Preston and Right at Home Maidenhead.

————————————————————————————————————————–

Right at Home North Cheshire and Leigh

One of Right at Home North Cheshire and Leigh’s CareGivers, Kerry, featured on a key workers billboard in Warrington!

————————————————————————————————————————–

A massive thank you to everyone supporting our network to continue delivering much needed care to those most vulnerable in our communities – we really appreciate your support.