Tŷ Hafan Volunteer Newsletter December 2020

December 2020

volunteer

voice Tŷ Hafan’s volunteer newsletter

your christmas edition of the

volunteer newsletter! the hospice for children in Wales yr hosbis i blant yng Nghymru

What’s new

Hospice Christmas p.2-3

Your stories p.4-5

Help us be fit for future p.7

Volunteer Voice

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News & Stories

a message from Maria Dear Volunteer As we approach the end of a challenging year, I wanted to say a sincere ‘thank you’ to you, our amazing volunteers, for everything that you do for Tŷ Hafan. Without you we could not do what we do for the children and families who need us.

This was never more true than in 2020! Covid-19 presented heightened challenges for our children and families, all of whom are highly vulnerable and struggling without their usual support networks.

I am very proud that throughout the pandemic Tŷ Hafan has kept its doors open to provide essential support and end-of-life care for our children and families. We all know that behind the scenes it is our wonderful colleagues and you, our fantastic volunteers, who make that possible. Whether in our shops, at the hospice, in our gardens, with Handcrafted, through your lovely letters of support, or in any other capacity, you have helped us to keep going, to raise funds, to keep delivering our services.

On behalf of the children and families, and my colleagues, thank you! For those of you shielding – we miss you and hope to see you next year.

I hope that you can safely celebrate Christmas with your loved ones, and that the new year rings in a happy, health 2021 for you all.

Wishing you and yours all the blessings of the season.

contents christmas at the hospice .........................................2-3 your stories ..............................................................4-5 ways you can help .....................................................5 what’s going on across Tŷ Hafan ..............................6 help us be fit for future ..............................................7 help us be better .......................................................8

Christma

Christmas w opportunity imaginable

Our infamo Santa is film able to hav

Christmas a remembra the ground

We will also is our spec families alo

Volunteer Voice

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News & Stories

as is not cancelled at Tŷ Hafan!

will be somewhat different at the hospice this year; however, we will not let this dim the light at Tŷ Hafan. We have taken this y to decorate lots of outdoor spaces whilst minimising the posibility of infection for our visitors to experience the best Christmas e, given the current climate.

ous panto will be going virtual every Monday and Friday to the families - and for those staying, they will watch it on the big screen!!! ming some magical Christmas stories and our Carol concert will go virtual for the very first time!! Fingers crossed the siblings will be ve a party at the grounds and be building their own Winter Wonderland!!

activities will still be provided to the children staying at the hospice and virtually to those who are not. Our candlelight service for ance will be held on the grounds and streamed to our bereaved families. To top it all off we will be putting on a light spectacular on ds and shining the light after the dark!!

o be broadcasting a video of Santa reading The Night Before Christmas on our Facebook page on Christmas Eve at 6:30pm. This cial way of saying thank you to all of our supporters. We would love it if you could tune in to the Christmas magic and bring your ong. Make sure you have your hot chocolate and mince pies at the ready!

Volunteer Voice

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News & Stories

your stories Meet Will Will retired in July 2018, having been a Child Care Social Worker specialising in Child Protection for almost forty years. He wanted to do things to occupy his time productively, so joined Pontypridd Male Voice Choir and started volunteer work at Tŷ Hafan; working directly with the children as a Care Support Worker. See Will’s journey below.

“When I started at Tŷ Hafan and met some of the children for the first time, I was initially overwhelmed with sadness.

I had not realised the extent to which many of the children needed and received support from Tŷ Hafan as a result of their medical conditions/disabilities. It came as a bit of a shock and I found it difficult to separate the child from their disability, chair, or equipment. However, I looked around me and saw happy people; children and adults who were having fun. I quickly realised that I had to change my perspective, which, by taking the lead from other volunteers and staff members, I was able to do. I was there to enjoy myself and help the children enjoy themselves, not be sombre; nobody wanted to see me po-faced. I soon came to see that these were just little ones who needed to feel safe, be talked, read and sung to and played with, in the same way as my daughters had when they were the same age.

I was really starting to enjoy myself at Tŷ Hafan; building up relationships with the children, staff and other volunteers and looked forward to my weekly visits. Then Covid struck. I was not able to go to the hospice and missed it. I was then asked if I would be interested in doing volunteer gardening. I thought that if I was not allowed to be with the children then I could, at least, help to improve their lives and those of their families or carers, by assisting in giving them well tended gardens to look out on or spend time in. I have only attended for one session so far, but look forward to attending regularly. The other volunteers are lovely and the gardens are a beautiful place to spend time in.

I have found Tŷ Hafan to have a very welcoming and nurturing atmosphere where everybody can enjoy themselves.

The children clearly share my experience and that is what it is all about. I shall continue to enjoy the gardening, but look forward to going back indoors; it’s a lot less like hard work.”

Thank you for your support, Will. It has been lovely getting to know you over the last year and we look forward to welcoming you back to the hospice when it’s safe to do so.

Do you have a hand for gardening?

We have a fantastic opportunity at our hospice for volunteers interested in gardening and being out and about in nature.

We rely heavily on volunteers to keep our grounds looking beautiful for our families to enjoy the fresh air.

We have recently welcomed around 15 new volunteers to our gardener’s club, but would love to expand on this.

If you are interestd in joining, please get in contact with the volunteering team for more information; and look out for the next edition of volunteer voice to see how much hard work our volunteers have put in to improving the look of the gardens.

Volunteer Voice

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News & Stories

Meet Krystyna from our Lampeter shop!

Krystyna has been volunteering for Tŷ Hafan for about three years and is always going the extra mile.

Her latest mission has been three layer washable face masks, which she has been making since returning from lockdown in August. So far, the Lampeter shop have sold 410 masks, generating £1,100 for Tŷ Hafan!

Each mask takes about 15-20 minutes to make; patterns have included sheep, tractors, flowers, Halloween themed and now Christmas themed – all of which have clearly proven very popular with customers.

As well as raising money for Tŷ Hafan, it was important to Krys to help the environment by encouraging people to use washable masks rather than disposable ones.

What a superstar!

Do you have any hidden talents you could use to help raise funds for our children and families? If so, we would love to hear from you and are happy to help make this happen in any way we can. Alternatively you can visit tyhafan.org/christmas to find other ways you can help.

Did you know that you can raise vital funds for our children and families by simply shopping online?

Tŷ Hafan are signed up for both easyfundraising and Amazon Smile, which turn your everyday online shopping sprees into donations for your chosen charity. Both services are free to use, so there is no cost to you or the charity. With over 4,000 retailers to choose from, it’s a great excuse to take advantage of those Boxing Day and New Year’s sales!

You can find out more information and register via easyfundraising.org.uk and smile.amazon.co.uk

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News & Stories

what’s going on... across tŷ hafan

News from our events team With the unfortunate closure of six of our shops earlier on this year, we made a promise to our volunteers affected by the closures to stay connected to them and their communities.

With this in mind, at the end of November, our events team paid a visit to three of the affected areas – Pontypridd, Bridgend and Tenby. This was a lovely opportunity to raise the profile of Tŷ Hafan and to raise funds through selling Christmas cards, raffle tickets and homemade Handcrafted goods; created by our extremely talented volunteers. Even more enjoyable was the opportunity to connect with local residents as well as catching up with some familiar volunteer faces.

2021 Events 18 April - ABP Newport Wales Marathon & 10k May - Marathon in May 13 June - JCP Swansea Half Marathon 19 June - GE Aviation Wales Welsh3peaks Challenge 1 August - Barry Island 10k 5 September - Cardiff Met Cardiff 10k * these events are dependent on the COVID-19 situation next year and are therefore subject to change.

News bites Oh what fun On 10 September, our Port Talbot shop turned ten years old (hip-hip, hooray!)

Our shop manager Alison and some of her lovely volunteers celebrated by throwing a Disney themed birthday party.

We hope you all had the best time - we loved looking at the pictures and seeing how much fun you had. 10/10 for costume creativity!!

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News News&&Stories Stories

Gifts in Will- Help us be Fit for Future!

This Christmas, we’d like to shine a special spotlight on one of our amazing supporters Leon Gardiner!

Tŷ Hafan holds a special place in the hearts of Leon and his wife, Alma. Having supported us for the last 17 years, they have played a special part in our development and growth. From playing the lottery to selling pin badges, Leon and Alma have helped to raise over £14,000 through their individual generosity and tireless fundraising within their community and now they have chosen to extend their support even further by pledging to leave us a gift in their will.

As Leon puts it: “I have supported Tŷ Hafan for years, and I wanted them to benefit in the future too.”

By choosing to leave Tŷ Hafan a gift in their Will, Leon and Alma are ensuring that we will be here to help life-limited children and their families across Wales, both now and in the future.

This Christmas, we would like to offer all of our volunteers the opportunity to write their will for free through Guardian Angel, our will writing partner! To make your will with Guardian Angel, visit: www.tyhafan.org/will-writing-offer or to request a free Information pack about Gifts in Wills, please get in touch with the Gifts in Wills team at 02920 532 255 or at legacy@tyhafan.org.

Volunteer Voice

News & Stories

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help us be better!

Volunteer Suggestion Box We’d love to hear from you! If you have any feedback or suggestions on this newsletter or volunteering in general, or have any stories you would like to share about your volunteering experience, please feel free to give us a call on 02920 532 308 or email volunteering@tyhafan.org and we will be happy to chat!

Length of Service Awards Please ensure you have informed your manager of your length of service at Tŷ Hafan. We are starting to reward our loyal and hardworking volunteers for length of service and don’t want you to miss out!

Volunteer Champion Group

Thank you from the Volunteering Team

Each month, a team of volunteer champions meet to discuss what’s going on in volunteering across the charity, including upcoming events and what we can do to improve the volunteer experience.

We are always extremely thankful and grateful for everything you do for the charity year-after-year; but this year we cannot put in to words how much your time and generosity means to us.

Starting in 2021, we would like to invite a volunteer along to the group each month, as a valuable opportunity for staff to gain knowledge and feedback from a different perspective. Of course the meetings will be virtual for now, but we hope to meet you in person later on in 2021.

It has been a difficult year for everyone, but the way you have pulled together to support the cause has been second-to-none.

We are constantly being told about how our volunteers are going above and beyond across the board to ensure we can shine the light after the dark. We hope you and your families have a safe and merry Christmas and a happy New Year.

If you are interested in attending, please email us at volunteering@tyhafan.org or call 02920 532 308.

See you on the other side!

Debbie and Laura, Volunteering.

Tŷ Hafan - the hospice for children in Wales. Hayes Road, Sully, CF64 5XX Registered Charity No: 1047912. Tŷ Hafan® is a registered trade mark.