West Kent and Brenwards have joint-funded a wide range of Christmas and New Year activities at Emerald schemes
Many of our staff in schemes were concerned that our older residents might find it hard to take part in Christmas activities in 2022 because of cost-of-living pressures. We wanted to find a way of supporting social activities and spreading some festive cheer!
Staff came together and consulted with residents to help shape activities. The opportunity to celebrate face to face is hugely important, particularly when considering the restrictions on socialising due to Covid-19 in previous years.
Brenwards, West Kent’s electrical and building contractor kindly helped to fund these events, which included free food and entertainment.
Staff at the Spires scheme in Tenterden were even more ambitious. They helped organise various activities for residents over the festive season, including a musical performance and magic show.
Alexander Mash, Scheme Manager at Spires said; ‘We know that the cost of living is impacting everyone, and we wanted to find a way of bringing some joy to our residents. These events were a great way to come together, and we are really thankful to Brenwards for the funding to help make this possible.’
Alongside funding from Brenwards, we were able to support these events through the Linda Hogan Community Fund, which from January 2023 will be called the ‘West Kent Community Chest’.
Anabel Palmer, Interim Director of Communities at West Kent said; ‘Social value is a key part of our contracts and partnerships at West Kent. We are extremely proud to work with Brenwards on a range of festive events and the impact has clearly been felt. We have been rolling out cost of living support over the last few months and this will be a huge focus of our work in 2023 but being able to meet and celebrate with residents is also vitally important, especially at this time of year when we know some of our residents struggle with isolation.’