‘I want to make wishes come true’
‘These people want to do the smallest things – it’s such a simple thing to do’
A 21-year-old has founded her own charity to help the elderly live out bucket-list aspirations.
Abby Wincel, from Maidstone, founded Wishing Hearts after being inspired by working in a care home.
She joined Cornford House, in Tunbridge Wells, as an activities coordinator after being made redundant from her job at Maidstone’s Topshop in 2020.
She said: “When I was there it was during Covid, and everyone was quite emotional and down,” she explained.
“So I made a Christmas care package for every resident – we raised around £1,000 – and it kind of went on from there.
“For some reason I don’t necessarily get on with people my age, but with older people it is a lot easier.”
The 21-year-old, from Maidstone, launched Wishing Hearts in March.
It aims to grant vulnerable elderly people in the area a longheld wish and to make memories for them to cherish.
So far she has treated residents in Cornford House to a visit from an ice cream van and singer, took a 93-year-old woman to Dymchurch – who hadn’t been on a beach in 10 years – and spent four hours chatting with a woman over coffee and cake at her home in Maidstone.
Abby said: “It made me realise that these people want to do the smallest things, and it’s such a simple thing to be able to do for someone.
“It does get quite emotional, especially at our coffee mornings. When we get onto the subject of loneliness they all have had their own experiences of it.
“They were saying the other day that the weekends are the worst, and nobody ever comes round. When they say stuff like that I do get really upset.”
Abby now works three days a week at a PDSA charity shop, and the other two days plus weekends working tirelessly for her own charity for free.
During the first week of August, Abby is planning on taking seven days off work to arrange a variety of events in Maidstone.
She wants to be able to have the opportunity to talk to local people in the town, whilst also trying to raise awareness and funds for her charity.
One of the activities is a Chat Bench in Week Street, where she will make herself available for anyone to come up and chat if they are feeling lonely or just want a natter.
She is also doing “Come and Have a Cuppa”, will be carrying out random acts of kindness and on Saturday will be getting the public involved in her own version of ITV gameshow “In for a Penny”.
“I want to make it a bit more fun, rather than just handing out leaflets to people,” she added.
“I hope to inspire others to speak to their elderly neighbours. Many can’t believe that people so young, or in fact anyone, will take time out of their day to go and spend an hour or two with them.”
n Find out more about at www. wishinghearts.co.uk