Each year Homewise supports local charities through volunteering, fundraising and donations and this year we’re supporting Guild Care and Time to Talk Befriending. Both charities are as passionate about helping older people as we are, and a few of our team have been fortunate enough to spend time befriending in the community already.
Take a moment to read about our recent volunteering days with Guild Care and Time to Talk Befriending and learn how you can support these charities too!
Guild Care provides a Healthy Living Programme at the Guild Care Centre in Worthing. This includes regular exercise classes, entertainment, and games and discussion groups. Plus, their wellbeing therapies offer both carers and older people the chance to relax and enjoy hairdressing services, manicures and massages – there’s something for everyone!
The Guild Care Centre is a friendly and lively hub for the local community to meet, enjoy a range of activities and grab a delicious bite to eat! Homewise will be joining in the fun down at the centre every month, with our team dedicating over 24 hours to the community at the centre in the last month alone.
“I had a great time socialising at the centre. It really made me appreciate how important these places are to the older community and how much they value having somewhere like Guild Care that they can go to. The service allows them to get out of the house and spend time with other people which is invaluable to them.” Stacey, Senior Property Consultant - Homewise
“The morning at Guild Care was brilliant. I learnt how to play Dominos and saw lots of friendly, happy faces enjoying the activities. I helped Mabel with collecting raffle money and dividing the raffle tickets, she is over 80 and goes there twice a week to volunteer and help with coffees and cakes, amazing!’’ Jack, CRM Administrator - Homewise
“I’ll be honest, at first I didn’t think I had the time that day to spend the morning out of the office, but it was such a great experience that I’ve already signed up again! The people I met were fascinating and so friendly, they were happy to chat and beat me at rummy! We were challenged in the quiz and talked about the Royal Wedding too which was fun.” Danielle, Marketing Communications Executive - Homewise
When you’re at the Guild Care Centre, it’s clear how important the social aspect is to everyone involved. The staff and volunteers do an amazing job providing a friendly, upbeat and engaging atmosphere for all, plus their volunteer drivers collect and drop off locals so they don’t miss out!
Volunteers at Guild Care support almost all their services and teams. This can include supporting group activities for older people in the community, driving minibuses, befriending care home residents who may not have visitors, and running fundraising events and activities.
Could you spare a little time to support older members of the community? Learn how you can volunteer for Guild Care over on their website.
Time to Talk Befriending offers “a mutually rewarding friendship consisting of companionship and time to talk over a cup of tea.” The organisation recognised a need to tackle loneliness in the community and created the scheme where volunteers visit older people in their homes for an hour or so per week, or every fortnight, simply to befriend.
Volunteers are matched with older people, with personality, experience, interests and geography all considered in the process, and we were excited to learn we had a match!
Each fortnight our team are meeting with Bill, a very chatty 91-year-old gentleman living in care. Bill is partially sighted and feels lonely at times with his family living far away, so having the Time to Talk volunteers visiting regularly is a real highlight for him.
Nicki from our Home Moving Team was very keen to volunteer and chat with Bill because she enjoys talking to people and hearing about their lives and experiences.
“Conversation is a lifeline for Bill and I’m so pleased to have met him. We spent just over an hour reminiscing with Bill about his experiences in the Navy and his time living in Fishersgate as a young man and then later with his family. It was clear that the most important thing for Bill is his memory. Bill sacrificed a lot in his lifetime for a better future and it was an honour to talk with him.” Nicki, Senior Property Consultant - Homewise
“You can’t judge someone by how active or astute they may appear today, there was so much depth to Bill. He’s led a fascinating and fulfilling life but now he relies heavily on his memories for happiness. Having time is a gift and if we can put it to great use by spending it with someone who experiences loneliness then that’s a wonderful thing to do.” Mark, Managing Director - Homewise
It’s a fabulous experience to volunteer and something as simple as a little conversation can make such a difference to peoples’ days. The befriending opportunities also help volunteers build confidence, learn new things and meet new people.
Do you have time to offer older people in your community? Read all about volunteering with Time to Talk Befriending over on their website.
Here at Homewise, we want to create a lasting positive impact, not only for our customers but for the older community and we couldn’t be prouder to support both Guild Care and Time to Talk Befriending this year.
“We live by our values at Homewise and realise that there is more to life than just work. Taking time out to talk to someone who needs and wants to talk to you so that they have some form of lifeline is a wonderful and rewarding way to spend time.” Mark, Managing Director - Homewise
See our Homewise Team and Events blogs for more news on our volunteering and charity fundraising.