Guild Care chief executive offers heartfelt thanks

Never in my professional life have I typed or uttered the phrase ‘it’s been a tough year’ so often.

At this point it almost feels like a cliché. However, I think we should not normalise or minimise the tough situations that the pandemic has placed us in.

Furthermore, I think it is of paramount importance to celebrate the hard work, dedication, and kindness that has allowed our charity and other care providers to move forward amidst such difficulty.

I would therefore like to take the opportunity on behalf of Guild Care to thank health and social care workers generally, our amazing staff and the Worthing community, which has been outstanding in its support of our charity.

Given the outpourings of love that we have all seen, from posts on social media to the heart-warming weekly clapping that took place at the start of the pandemic, I am certainly not alone in giving thanks to our country’s health and social care workers.

Working for Guild Care since before the pandemic, I have been able to closely admire the hard work and dedication staff in our community services, home care service and care homes have demonstrated. Clearly, caring for others is not just a job – it is a calling to those with boundless empathy, compassion and understanding.

With the rollout of vaccines for residents and staff across our care homes having begun, I am thrilled that our staff will hopefully soon be able to continue to offer their love and outstanding care in easier circumstances.

In addition to the outstanding dedication of health and care workers, the support the public has offered to charities and care providers throughout the country has been breathtaking. Our charity has experienced such support from the Worthing community first-hand, both through people volunteering their precious time and donating important funds and items such as PPE.

Most recently for example, our Worthing Cares Christmas appeal raised nearly £5,000, allowing us to deliver many goodie boxes to service users spending the holiday alone. In addition, to members of the public donating to the campaign, support was also gratefully received from businesses in the Worthing community, specifically, local companies ETI, Bacon & Company, Micawber Lettings and Carpenter Box, and Worthing’s branch of Waitrose kindly donated funds and a selection of goodies to stock the boxes.

The boxes were delivered, along with much-needed socially distanced doorstep chats, by a team made up of more than 70 fantastic volunteers.

Mark Philips, our charity’s volunteer co-ordinator, noted: “The response from our volunteers has been quite humbling and really reflects the caring and compassion they all have.”

Julie Moon is a service user who received a visit and box.

She said: “Thank you everyone at Guild Care for the good wishes and hamper. I had a brilliant visit from Paul and Sandra, and we talked, masked and socially distanced. What an absolute treat. My first Christmas on my own but I have had a very good time. Happy new year, everyone!”

I would like to echo Julie’s sentiment. Thank you to every care worker who has worked so diligently in unprecedented circumstances and to you, the Worthing community, for supporting our charity.

If you would like to find out more about Guild Care, please visit our website or call our friendly customer service team on 01903 327327.

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