Our fundraiser get-together
Here at Aster Care, our aim is to support people to live at home with their long term condition for as long as possible, even to die at home if they wish. In recent times, several of our wonderful service users have passed away and our own staff have experienced loss of family members too. Inevitably, not only do we experience grief but there is a void to fill. Loneliness can easily become of feature of our lives, especially those who have lost partners and now live alone.
Caring for our people for so long inevitably meant that friendships developed with families. It didn’t seem right to end them there, and so we decided not to! We pondered how to bring these people together when, Jade, our Care Coordinator, came up with the idea of raising money for breast cancer over an afternoon tea! We thought this would be a good excuse to bring everyone together with a pleasant focus, and raise money for a worthy cause. We then set about inviting our ex service user’s families, our existing and ex-staff, along with our own family members to this event.
What did we plan?
Carey, our Deputy Manager, got onto the invitations for current staff and those families we’d kept in contact with whilst Pam, our Operations Director & Registered Manager, put a post on Facebook to capture ex staff too. We gave people the option of bringing a homemade or shop bought cake and money they could spare. Jade also set up a series of games such as ‘Guess the Teddy’, Count the Teapots, Pin the Cherry on the Bakewell, and of course, a good quality raffle.
On the day...
The weather was a scorcher! We had a great turn out of 29 people who turned out to be the mix of people as planned. We moved many of the chairs into the garden and fortunately, one of our ex staff brought some sun block to provide for the rest of us who just assumed it would rain! The cakes arrived in their droves, each and every one of them was homemade. We had many different flavours to try; lemon drizzle, spicy tea bread, cup cakes, courgette and pistachio, shortbread, cherry bakewell, chocolate brownie, scones with clotted cream and jam, cheese straws, and carrot cake. Carey and Jade were busy organising games and raising money as they went along. Pam went out with rounds of cake and goodies to ensure people ate as much as they could, and we encouraged all of our visitors to take cake with them when we left.
How much did we raise?
After much preparation, baking and entertaining, our generous guests raised £200 for Breast Cancer Awareness. However, what was more satisfying was bringing everyone together to meet new people, start new conversations, and catch up with old (and new) faces. The time flew by and we were all exhausted from the heat, but so pleased to see everyone. The feedback we had from people who lost loved ones was quite special, saying they felt welcome, and had a chance to meet new people.
Other ways that we connect and raise money for charity
We continue to look for ways to connect our service users and their families to each other. We have arranged lunches, gone to painting sessions and other craft sessions, along with just popping to their houses for coffee and a chat! Some of our service users already hold fundraisers themselves for MacMillan Coffee Mornings, and for raising awareness of Myeloma. Aster Care also makes regular donations to charities such as Age UK, Shelter, Medicines Sans Frontiers, The Trussell Trust, Guide Dogs and The London Air Ambulance.
find out about more about some of the services Aster Care provide:
