Perfect present Store’s surprise for care home residents after vote
RESIDENTS at a specialist dementia nursing home in Cheltenham were overjoyed to have their Christmas wishes come true this year, thanks to a local community initiative.
Wentworth Court on Village Road received more than 1,000 public votes on social media to win the care home category of Dunelm Cheltenham’s Delivering Joy campaign.
The 62 residents, who live with moderate to severe dementia, anonymously shared their Christmas wish-lists on the Dunelm Cheltenham Community Support group, so that kind members of the public could choose and donate presents.
Staff from the Cheltenham store delivered the thoughtful gifts, including cuddly toys, flowers and clothing items on Christmas Eve.
The home was also gifted a beautiful Christmas wreath from Bumblebeez Florists and festive decorations donated by Dunelm.
Wentworth Court general manager Gez Ossai said: “Thanks to the tremendous support from the staff team, families and friends of the home who supported our Facebook nomination, our residents had an extra surprise this Christmas.
“We’re overwhelmed by the generosity of local people who have brought a little extra joy to our home community this year.
“One again, there have been some challenges this year due to Covid and the emergence of the Omicron variant but nonetheless, we’ve enjoyed daily festive activities including a retrothemed party, mince-pie making, a Christingle carol service and elfassisted exercise sessions with the wellbeing team.
It’s our job to ensure that the run-up to Christmas and the main event is very special for everyone living with us.”
Sales Assistant Naomi Mills, who coordinated the campaign on behalf of Dunelm Cheltenham added: “On behalf of everyone at Dunelm we would just like to say a massive thank you to everyone who got involved in our Delivering Joy campaign - none of this would of been possible without you.
“You have made so many people smile this Christmas.
“We also want to say ‘thank you’ to Wentworth Court, Cheltenham Animal Shelter, YMCA, Cheltenham Open Door and the Children’s Centres for taking part and allowing us to make people smile.
“We have such a great community where we live, it’s amazing what a community can do when we all come together.”