People have been writing letters to residents in a York care home to keep spirits up – and children have been sending in hand-drawn pictures and waving through the windows.
Fulford Care Home has received cards, cakes and flowers from kind-hearted people after managing director Elizabeth Hancock posted an appeal on Facebook.
She said: “I was overwhelmed by the response to the post. I have had letters coming through the door. Children have been coming up to wave through the window of the care home.
“The smile on one of the residents’ faces when I told her a letter was on the way to her was just magical – to know that somebody was picking up a pen to write and that they are thinking about you at a time like this.”
‘It’s giving us a voice’
She added that a dressing up box was brought in so residents can put on fancy dress and have some fun when they video call relatives.
Elizabeth said:
Our residents are isolating but it’s giving us a voice. It means we can also write back to people who are at home.
It encourages us all to chat and it gives us all time together, we are one big family.
We are just trying to create little bits of magic and it’s lovely to see that the York community have bought into that. People want to do something positive rather than just watch the news. There is a lot of goodness out there.
When this is all over, I hope we will have made a lot of good friends.
The home will celebrate its 30th anniversary in April and Elizabeth said these letters “mean we will have a lot more people to invite to our party later in the year.
“The staff are the most dedicated team of people, it’s just amazing. I am in awe of how residents are always put first.”