UK-Wide Community Volunteers From Nestle Give Helping Hand To Leeds Care Home
Paisley Lodge in Armley, Leeds, has been given a boost this week by a team of 25 volunteers, as part of a new partnership with Nestlé Professional and Orchard Care Homes.
Nestlé volunteers from across the UK, drawing from Brighton, Worcester, Preston and Newcastle, joined volunteers and staff from the Harrogate-based care home group, for a day’s hands-on work that saw the transformation of two lounges, the front and back gardens and three bedrooms.
The 45-bed dementia specialist home benefited from an intensive burst of energy and care, with volunteers creating a sports lounge aimed at the home’s increasing number of male residents, a doll-therapy area and the beginnings of a sensory garden. Bedrooms were painted and given a refreshed look and feel.
Pat Woellner, Home Manager, who arrived at the home three months ago, instigated the makeover on the back of a resident committee meeting, and a new relationship with the foodservice division of Nestlé presented the perfect opportunity to focus activity in a day. Nestlé staff are each given two days ‘volunteering’ time each year, and colleagues in the Nestlé Professional division created an opportunity to bring their nationwide team together for this occasion.
Pat said, “This has been a fantastic day, the energy and hive of activity around the home has made such a difference and we are really pleased with the results. The Residents’ Committee has led this, and so we are enabling individuals in making the home feel like their home. We’re certain it will create a positive environment for the residents.”
Orchard Care Homes’ Group Head of Sales and Marketing, Tracey Tomlinson, added, “We have been working with Nestlé Professional for several months, focusing on kitchen development and training across our homes, and it has been an incredibly positive experience. When we received an email highlighting “Helping Hands Available” we clearly jumped at the opportunity to welcome the volunteering team to the home, where they could work on a project that would have an immediate positive effect.
“The day in Leeds has enabled us to complete planned work at Paisley Lodge within a much shorter and more immediate time frame.”
Fin Coffey, Nestlé Commercial End User Controller, added, “Nestlé brands are an integral part of the everyday life of our customers and therefore the wider community. To be able to contribute something a little extra to improve the day to day lives of the community by working with our customers has been a great experience and one we have all found very rewarding”
Residents kept an eye on the activity throughout the day, with Resident Committee member Maud regularly going out into the garden to check up on the work and chat to the volunteers. Staff also commented on how different the home felt with such attention and care given.
Watch the short newsreel on the project here: https://youtu.be/W4YMyijtdHk
