Goodie bags for care staff

This pandemic has caused a great deal of anxiety and stress for care home staff. As they work hard to look after vunerable residents, they face the concern of both themselves and those they care for contracting Covid 19. Many have seen residents they know and love die prematurely  because of the virus and staff have provided the end of life care needed. Many are doing with limited supplies of personal protective equipment. 

Goodie bags are an opportunity to let care staff know that their local church and community is grateful for all that they are doing, and that the church is praying for them. As a charity we prepared and distributed 900 goodie bags to all the care homes for older people across the Borough of Richmond. In the bags we included:

Hand cream
Lip balm
A bar of chocolate
Biscuits
A votive  scented candle in a glass holder
A hand written thank you note
A postcard with "Footprints" on one side and a printed note on the back to say that the church was praying for them.

We did a large scale project supported by all the churches across the Borough of Richmond, but one church could easily do this for one or two local care homes.
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One carer sent us this message:
"Thank you so much for your thoughtful, caring gift. It is perfect Vaseline for the dry lips after a shift wearing a mask, hand and nail cream for the hands that are repeatedly washed and the sweet treats, always appreciated. I lit the scented candle last night and relaxed. Your prayers and the message card mean so much. Bless you all and thank you."