Radfield Home Care launches pen pal project

Radfield Home Care Bexhill, Hastings & Battle is excited to announce the launch of ‘Radfield Pen Pals’, a pen pal project to help connect their clients to children in its community during these unprecedented times, when older people are more socially isolated than ever before, and shielding from family, friends and loved ones.

Amy Hilton, registered care manager for Radfield Home Care Bexhill, has introduced the project initially by placing a post on her Facebook page and has had an overwhelming response so far.

Amy explains, “I’m extremely proud of the success of Radfield Pen Pals. I was looking to create an initiative to promote the wellbeing of our clients who are now self-isolating and have reduced social contact. I feel this is a wonderful opportunity for those of different generations to learn from each other and share experiences of living through these unprecedented times. We are grateful for the support of the children and families of Hastings Wanderers Football Club and schools including Grovelands CP School for the difference you are making to the lives of our clients here at Radfield Home Care.”

Steve Coward, under 8’s manager at Hastings Wanderers Football Club commented, “When we learnt about Radfield Pen Pals, we knew it was something we wanted to be involved in. The children at Hastings Wanderers Football Club are enjoying learning the skill of letter writing and creating mini masterpieces to send to their pen pals.”

“As relationships develop, it’s a great chance for the children to learn directly from people who have lived through experiences that they would otherwise only learn from in a text book. This will in turn support their new style of home learning whilst also learning invaluable life skills. We look forward to building on our relationship with Radfield to bring the generations together. The team are currently unable to meet in person but are enjoying meeting over social media and taking part in ‘Keepy Uppy Challenges’.”

 

Radfield Home Care has received over 20 drawings and letters to date from the local school and football club, and has been busy sharing these with clients, who have been enormously touched and thrilled with them.

One of Radfield’s lovely clients, Audrey, was thrilled when she received a letter from ‘Tom’. Audrey explained, “I was so pleased to get it. I can’t tell you how it lifted my spirits. When I was a child, we were given a ship to write to the sailors. I was really chuffed when I got a letter back. It’s such a good idea and I will be writing back to Tom.”

Pen pal activities have been in place for many years across many countries and have a bit of mixed history with some confusion on when the first official Pen Pal relationship was formed, with dates relating back to the 1930’s. One organisation in particular, the Student Letter Exchange has been assisting the matching of Pen Pals since 1936, when a teacher decided that its’ student should connect with students from other countries to pique their curiosity and expand their knowledge of the world’s cultures.

If you would like to learn more about the Radfield Pen Pals Project, then give the office a call today.