Residents At Hertfordshire Care Home Overwhelmed With Community Messages To Mark World Kindness Day
Residents at a Hertfordshire care home have been left overwhelmed after receiving a flood of cards, letters and poems from the community and beyond to mark World Kindness Day (November 13th).
Following an invitation to send in messages of kindness for the residents at Foxholes Care Home, staff have been left shocked at the outpouring of engagement from the Hitchin community, as well as from as far afield as Canada, the USA and Australia.
Residents were delighted to open their cards and read the messages that were sent in, which took on an array of creative forms including drawings, poems, inspiring speeches, and heartfelt letters.
Children from Hitchin’s Kingshott School sent in vibrant and uplifting letters wishing everyone at the home a happy World Kindness Day, while other messages reflected on the current lockdown and urged the residents to stay positive and keep smiling. One letter writer noted that, despite not knowing anyone personally at Foxholes, they understand this is a difficult time for care homes and were thinking of them.
David Weston, Headmaster of Kingshott School, said “It’s been such a difficult year for everyone. Here at Kingshott, we’re enjoying having the children back at school and some sense of normality but understand that life is still very difficult for many people, especially during this second lockdown period. We thought it would be beneficial for all if we could help celebrate World Kindness Day by making and sending some cheery messages to the Foxholes residents to help lift their spirits.”
Neil Gandecha, estate manager at Foxholes Care Home, said: “We’ve been left amazed at the amount of kind messages sent to the home. The residents enjoyed opening and reading their cards and letters and it certainly left a smile on their faces, so we can’t thank the community enough for getting involved in this simple, yet powerful gesture.”
Since March, residents at Foxholes have had to deal with very limited visitation from close family and friends due to the coronavirus pandemic, and with the current national lockdown set to continue until early December, so does the wait to fully reopen the doors at the residential home.
Neil continued: “Foxholes is a very community-driven home so for us, having to close our doors and stop visitation has been extremely difficult. In times when you can’t see family and friends due to social distancing and self-isolation, it can become easy to feel disconnected, but Hitchin and beyond have proved once again that we are all in this together. We hope everyone had as much of a positive and uplifting World Kindness Day as our residents did.”
