Dorothy Clark, Team leader at The Hawthorns, raised just under £250 for Macmillan Cancer Support with the help of her team and the young people at the home, which the Foundation doubled through its Match Funding grant scheme. Dorothy shares her story below.
On 28th September 2018, the Hawthorns held a Macmillan coffee morning to raise money to support those with cancer. The young people made preparations and invitations within their young person’s meetings and the staff rallied around frantically in an attempt to gather as many donations as possible to use as raffle prizes. Both the staff and young people made an extra effort to go out into the community and seek donations from local businesses. Some of the prizes on offer were a horse riding lesson, meal vouchers, haircut vouchers and chocolates. There were a variety of different homemade cakes on offer and a competition for star baker which was rightfully claimed by Tracie Fletcher.
The home also facilitated a ‘guess the name of the bear’ and the winner was able to take Colin home. The staff and the young people also invited the local community and some of the residents of Bowerham Road. At the end of their visit, one of the women voiced to the staff how she thinks the home is immaculate and that the staff do an amazing job. The same woman asked a staff member if he would mind having a look at her TV to see if he could fix it; which he did the same day when walking her home.
Social workers, private tutors, family members, staff and young people from other homes and the senior leadership team attended the coffee morning and made excellent contributions towards our cause. The event was a great success and the home raised £245.40 in total, tripling last year’s effort! We are delighted with the additional match funding supported by the Foundation bringing our total contribution to just under £500.
All of the young people displayed exemplary behaviour throughout the day and interacted with all guests at the home. The Hawthorns staff team could not be more proud of their achievements and contributions that they made towards Macmillan.