Children bring cheer to older residents

Home Instead Wetherby and North Leeds asked local schools to take part in their ‘Be an Easter Bunny to a Senior’ campaign and create and donate Easter-themed cards to an older person.

“We were inundated with responses and had over 400 donations from several local schools,” said a Home Instead spokesman.

“These included fantastic Easter-themed cards and drawings, some amazing daffodil windmills, beautiful Easter chicks and Easter baskets that children had created.

“Our Community Representative, Heather, also reached out to local supermarkets who very kindly donated Easter eggs to give to our clients.

“We’re so thankful to Tesco Express Collingham, Tesco Extra Seacroft and Morrisons in Wetherby for their amazing donations.”

The spokesman said that Home Instead has been on a mission to help tackle social isolation for older people in the community.

“It’s been a difficult year for older people as many haven’t been able to leave the house for months and much of their community support services haven’t been able to operate because of local lockdown restrictions.

“Maintaining social interaction is vital for our mental wellbeing and it’s important that we keep our brains active and stimulated with engaging activities.

“This is why we’ve created a third version of our puzzle book that we’ve given to many older people within our community.”

The book includes a range of puzzles, quizzes, word search puzzles and other trivia activities as a way of encouraging people to keep their minds engaged.

“We had a great week distributing the Easter-themed cards, Easter eggs, a local magazine and our puzzle books to all of our clients.

“We also donated the Easter cards, local magazine and puzzle books to many other older people in our community around Wetherby and North Leeds within local care homes or retirement complexes.

“Thank you so much to all of the lovely donations we received from local primary schools.”