Our Supported Housing colleagues and customers are busy getting ready for Christmas.
Colleagues recognised that adults in our services being supported may not receive gifts this year and the team wanted to support adults in supported accommodation in the county.
Last year, Jewson Partnership Solution supported us in providing New Horizons clients with gift sets of toiletries.
These were really appreciated by our customers so we were able to do the same this year.
Our Supported Housing team are busy preparing for Christmas and colleagues wanted to make sure the best possible Christmas for all the families we’re supporting there.
Caroline Davies, our Coordinator for Referrals said: “We decided to look at providing more of an experience for families, so I thought about the cinema gift cards and found if there were cinemas near many of our homes.
“Where we had single clients, families that lived too far from a cinema, or the children were too young, I thought Love to Shop vouchers would be more suitable. These can be spent in a wide number of different outlets. Jewson Partnership Solution kindly agreed to assist us with this.
“I hope these vouchers will encourage clients and their families to go out into the communities and have a lovely family experience in an area where they finally feel safe.”
As a team, they are providing a Christmas dinner with all the trimmings for any customers who would like to join in.
Caroline Davies added: “Colleagues will act as waiters, and we feel this will be a wonderful opportunity for people to share some good food and company on a day which many find particularly difficult.
“All colleagues have been working hard to arrange food hampers, gifts and ensuring that they still receive the right support for them over the Christmas period.”
Customers and their children along with colleagues had a Coach House Christmas party where Santa joined, and they opened gifts there.
Our grants team have accessed funding through our suppliers which has meant that we have also been able to provide a voucher for customers in New Horizons as an extra gift.
LiveWest has also provided supermarket vouchers to help each person and family over the Christmas period.
Sarah Kempster, our Team Leader for Supported Housing said: “The New Horizons team have been working really hard to ensure that our customers have the best Christmas period that they are able to experience.
“The team has been working tirelessly over the past week to ensure that every person that we support receives their hamper in time before Christmas and that they all have presents to open on Christmas morning if they celebrate Christmas – both adults and children. So we really hope they enjoy them."
“We thank everyone for their hard work and we hope everyone has a great Christmas.”
There will be further updates from our Supported Housing team to follow soon.
