A good brew equals a good community!
“It’s so good to see how our girls enjoyed serving in their community” Dotti Gibbons
Double dose of being community minded
This week is National Carers Week (5-11 June) 2023 and we’re also giving a final shout out to Volunteers Week (1-7 June) as we have two contrasting examples of the good work our people do – building stronger communities!
Carers Week & Volunteers Week -we play our part every week!
Some of those we support have done their own caring by looking out for those in the wider community.
Please be upstanding for Oaklea’s Dotti Gibbons: “I supported Alice & Helen to do a goal serving in the community. Here you can see their awesome work. Welcoming and serving teas, coffee and orange. Putting out plates and biscuits & cakes on tables. There’s no charge and they get lots popping in.”
Dotti adds between refills: “This took place in Kendal Town Hall. Both girls were amazing and everyone was thanking them for being so attentive to their needs. Helen mingled playing games at different tables. Alice loved making and serving drinks. They then did all the tidying up before we left. It was a joy to support their goals we set together.”
A huge thanks to Gateway Church who provide and run the Community Hub at the Town Hall
Community & care – It cuts across the generations!
Meanwhile high up in the North Pennines we have more great examples of community engagement with care at it’s heart. Our Green Mentor, Ben Honey explains:
“A group of year 9 students from Samuel Kings School Alston volunteered to feed their local community, using fresh vegetables and other ingredients to make fresh soup and rolls once a week. (they were feeding at least thirty each week, and saving the group volunteers from having to do it). They also supported their local green spaces, and were asked to make birdboxes of different sizes which they did by hand. The boxes have been presented to their local community garden, as well as a local farm, a primary school, their own school garden and a student green space. This was all done as part of their DOE award and supported by the Cumbria Youth Alliance Dreamscheme.”
Timing is everything….they were right!
What is Carers Week -all about connecting with each other
Dotti “Just so nice to see our guys honoured for doing awesome things”
Carers Week is an annual campaign to raise awareness of caring, highlight the challenges unpaid carers face and recognise the contribution they make to families and communities throughout the UK. It also helps people who don’t think of themselves as having caring responsibilities to identify as carers and access much-needed support. More info here https://www.carersweek.org/
There’s also more on Volunteers Week at Oaklea/R2W here https://www.oakleatrust.co.uk/giving-back-its-volunteer-week/