As part of the #peoplethatmatter hour of #homecareday18, HRM Homecare have shared the details on their Buy a Meal Campaign - demonstrating how a small idea can blossom to really benefit service users.

#homecareday18

It is almost one year since the team at HRM Homecare came up with an idea that had a huge impact on service users over the festive period in 2017. Since it is Home Care Day, we thought it would be a great opportunity to blog about the Buy a Meal Campaign.

Assistant Service Manager Stacey Crawford first put forward the concept, along with some of our Lanarkshire-based support workers in mid-December last year. They wanted to fundraise to buy Christmas dinners for service users without family or friends.

Without knowing if they would be able to pull it off in time, the team set about fundraising at the busiest time of year in a Care at Home service. They weren’t at all put off by the added stress and strain in an already pressurised work environment – because they cared!

They worked effectively together to find innovative ideas that would raise enough funds to meet the target set to buy a Christmas dinner for all the people identified as without their own network to provide a festive meal on 25 December.

Workers were asked to donate £1 towards the Buy a Meal Campaign. This money helped purchase meals, as well as the other festive treats like mince pies, Christmas cars and boxes of chocolates for those service users who had no one to prepare a meal for them or visit them on Christmas day.

Thanks to their super efforts, the fundraising goal was achieved in only a few days, the level of buy-in to the initiative was so heartening. After seeing the organisations’ support workers and managers put so much effort into raising £230 in such a short period, we decided to match the funds – meaning we had a healthy pot of £460 to cover the costs of providing everyone identified with a Christmas parcel.

The kindness continued. Staff also volunteered to give their own time on Christmas day itself to support both the service users and their colleagues to deliver meals and spend time with those who were on their own on Christmas Day. On 25^th December their teamwork was evident out in the community.

Because of this innovative idea and caring practice, the Buy a Meal Campaign made a real difference to the lives of 36 of HRM Homecare’s most vulnerable service users in Lanarkshire, turning just another day into a special Christmas celebration for them! The impact was heartfelt pleasure and joy from people who were otherwise going to be alone on Christmas day.

The team at HRM Homecare truly went the extra mile and wholeheartedly demonstrated by their actions what care is really about: selflessness, warmth, dignity and empathy for other human beings.

But it wasn’t just the service users who benefitted. It raised morale across the board, and teamwork and friendships among the whole care team flourished – support staff out on Christmas day itself were incredibly proud, and rightly so.

Any monies left over were donated to Alzheimer’s Scotland.

I couldn’t be prouder of my staff. They showed real caring and compassion, giving of their own time and money – especially at Christmas. They put the needs of those less fortunate before themselves. This may seem like a small act but all too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment or the smallest act of caring – all of which have the potential to turn a life around.

This year, the staff are aiming for a bigger and better campaign, not just in Lanarkshire bit throughout our entire organisation. Fundraising efforts were kickstarted by donating £1 every week to dress down on a Friday. The staff have definitely lived up to our motto at HRM Homecare: We Care.

Lynn Laughland

Managing Director, HRM Homecare