Christmas box full of surprises donated from local school brings joy to care residents

ELDERLY care home residents are each being gifted a Christmas box from local school pupils to help spread joy this festive season.

Trinity Academy is set to deliver 30 Christmas boxes full of personalised letters, CDs, postcards, brooches and poems to elderly and vulnerable members of the community – ten of which will be delivered to Craighall Care Home in Edinburgh.

Craighall, which is managed and operated by Mansfield Care, will receive boxes from pupils ranging from 11-14 years old, who are showing their support for the community and making residents smile during the festive season.

Channelle Martin, PE teacher at Trinity Academy and the brains behind the initiative, said: “It has been amazing how well the Christmas boxes have been received and how keen our pupils have been to get involved – with many of them taking the projects home to finish them over evenings and weekends.

“We wanted to reach out and connect with members of the community and hospices this festive period, as everyone has had a bit of a touch year, especially the elderly.

“It is important for pupils to develop relationships with the elderly community so we felt this was the right moment to reach out and show our support.

“The project has been an invaluable learning experience for the pupils. By writing the letters and poems we have been able to show that you don’t need to spend money to make someone happy and smile.

“Simply taking some time to put words onto papers can have a massive impact on someone. We hope that the residents enjoy the boxes and we look forward to meeting up with them as and when it is safe to do so.”

The Christmas boxes will also include access to a short drama that the teenagers have created and filmed themselves, which the residents can watched remotely from the comfort of Craighall.

Residents are set to write back to the school to thank them for the act of kindness, with the hopes of continuing these intergenerational friendships in the New Year.

Jo Dickman, Craighall Care Manager, said: “We are really looking forward to sharing the news of the Christmas boxes with our residents – it will really brighten up their day and put a smile on their faces.

“We know the pupils have been busy putting together the gifts and everyone at Craighall is incredibly thankful for this kind gesture and the time which has been spent on making our residents’ Christmases that little bit more special.”

Mansfield Care specialises in small, friendly residential care homes in Edinburgh, Borders and west of Scotland; each designed to an exceptional standard with state-of-the-art facilities.

The Mansfield Care ethos is inspired by the kind of care we would wish for ourselves in later life – supportive, friendly, bright, positive, empathetic, respectful and homely.

For more information on Mansfield Care, visit: https://www.mansfieldcare.co.uk/

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