Natalie

Handling Covid19 – Kissing it Better

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We caught up with Kissing it Better, a charity who became members of the network back in 2017 due to their Major Grant. They have subsequently had a Time to Shine Leader, Hannah, who is in the middle of her employment year with them.

Simply, Kissing it Better’s mission is ‘to end the isolation of old age by bringing the generations together.’ There is a key team of 5, with 7 additional self-employed team members. The main bulk of people at Kissing it Better are the fantastic volunteers from schools, colleges, universities, and teachers, as well as musicians. There are around 800 of them!

Ordinarily, Kissing it Better has contracts with large hospital Trusts. They also work with care home groups and those in the community. Some of that work is funded by local councils as well as other funding groups and individuals who donate money to the organisation, either directly or through fundraising activities.

Kissing it Better are also starting to teach students in secondary schools, colleges, universities and those completing ‘Duke of Edinburgh’s Awards’ about their work through a regulated and accredited course called ‘Creative Thoughtfulness in the Care of Others’. They also run workshops for primary school children called “When great granny came to stay’, to teach them how best to engage with their older relatives, neighbours and friends.

Those who sing or offer other performances that demonstrate their skills (drama, dance, magic skills, hairdressing, beauty therapy etc.,) are learning how to adapt a performance or experience for those who may have dementia, hearing loss or poor sight. In return, Kissing it Better will offer master classes on how to work in challenging environments, train them in dementia awareness, write references for them.

During this pandemic, Kissing it Better has had to adapt its services to facilitate social distancing and the ensure the safety of their staff and service users: from making regular phone calls to elderly service users, to making goodie-bags for hospital and care staff. One of their adapted activities has received a lot of publicity. This is their ‘outside the window’ campaign – an initiative that enables Kissing it Better to continue to bring music and other gentle entertainment to those isolated in care homes and hospitals by performing at a safe distance outside their windows.

They are also working with The Duke of Edinburgh Award to enable students to continue their volunteering experience by connecting them with older people in the community, by giving them ways to continue that connection from their own homes.

We asked them how their service users were responding:

“We work with older people in hospitals and care homes and many are feeling so lost and alone at this time. Unable to see their relatives and friends, we believe they are not just thrilled to get some gentle entertainment, they are also touched that someone took time out their busy lives to think of them”

How to contact KIB or get more information.

The best way to contact KIB is by emailing mail@kissingitbetter.co.uk or by calling 07831 136152 or 01789 488018

You can visit their website here.

Handling Covid19 – Enthusiasm Trust

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The Enthusiasm Trust has been operating for over 20 years, delivering projects working with young people who are most at risk of exploitation and offending. They predominantly work in the Derby, Nottingham and Manchester areas and the organisation is led by Joe Russo, the founder.

When asked about what is at the core of The Enthusiasm Trust’s programme, Joe explained they have three main focuses: Youth Delivery (place based, direct delivery with young people and high-risk children), their Get Connected programme (a 6-9 month programme working with police and local professionals on developing their current strategy) and Influencing (shaping local and national policy to alleviate poverty and tackle crime).

A usual week for Joe and his team involves plenty of home visits and check-ins with their service users, hosting dance groups and youth clubs. In addition to their direct youth work, the team will be responding and reacting to their service users (antisocial behaviour, crime and relationship breakdowns to name a few of the issues that may need to be dealt with), working with professionals and agencies such as Social Workers and the Police, as well as getting on the road to secure funding and new business. Joe explained that his team deal with emotionally taxing and complicated scenarios, which means that as an organisation they must invest heavily in team culture and activities to avoid normalisation of troubling day-to-day cases.

The Covid-19 crisis has meant that much of Enthusiasm Trust’s service delivery has had to be adapted, but they are working endlessly to ensure that none of their young people are left feeling isolated, alone or unsupported during these uncertain times.   In some rare cases (and exclusively for extremely high risk and vulnerable service users), Enthusiasm Trust are delivering 1-2-1 meetings in person, but they are still having to observe the strict self-distancing guidelines and deep cleaning procedures in shared spaces. These sessions are not taken lightly and are only run when absolutely essential.

Enthusiasm Trust are trialling a virtual Youth Club, offering team-led dance sessions and FIFA tournaments, as well as general chatting and socialising. One of their initiatives is a ‘bake-along’, whereby the Enthusiasm Trust team have sourced ‘baking packs’ with all of the essential ingredients, doing social distancing drop-offs at youth club member houses for the group to bake together, all via video technology.

All in all, the service users are responding positively, most of them look forward to social contact and the offering of virtual escape from often dysfunctional and difficult homes. Enthusiasm Trust have been trying to find the balance – many of the youth they work with are fed up with being at home, which can lead to antisocial behaviour and rebellion, therefore the team are doing their best to break the cycle and continue being an outlet for youth energy and trust.

If you would like to know more about Enthusiasm Trust:

Contact Founder, Joe Russo at joe.russo@enthusiasm.org.uk
enthusiasm.org.uk
Twitter: @EnthusiasmTrust
Facebook: @EnthusiasmForYoungPeople

Handling Covid19 – First Give

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Our second feature for ‘Handling Covid19’ is First Give, a fully-resourced secondary school programme that gets an entire year group of students engaging in social action. First Give received their first grant from Rank back in 2017 and their Director, Louisa Searle, is a School Leadership Award Fellow and member of the RankNet Leaders Action Group.

First Give exists to inspire young people to make a difference to the causes they care about. They do this through a fully resourced programme delivered in partnership in secondary schools. The charity has 7 full time staff and works with roughly 200 schools and 37,000 young people a year.

“Usually the team are busy going in and out of schools to work with teachers and young people – delivering assemblies, workshops and hosting our celebratory School Finals, held at each of our partner schools where students can win £1,000 for a chosen charity.

During this isolation period we spent the first two weeks of the lockdown supporting our schools and helping them as they transition into remote learning. We also developed and launched a new mini-programme: First Give – Helping From Home. This free three-lesson programme can be used by teachers but also by parents and young people. It’s linked to an online competition where each month young people have a chance to win £200 for a chosen charity through their remote or virtual social action.

Teachers and supporters have been incredibly enthusiastic during this difficult period – we are all trying to find ways in which to spread positivity and bring people together… young people need this more than ever.

The biggest challenge during this crisis has been shifting our mindset from this period being one of challenge to one of opportunity – there’s a lot that charities like First Give can do to support our beneficiaries in this time.”

Get in touch with First Give via info@myfirstgive.co.uk

For more information visit Fist Give’s website.

Follow First Give on Twitter at @FirstGiveUK

Handling Covid19 – Memory Matters

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During these unprecedented times we are shining the spotlight on grant holders who are still able to continue their service delivery. 

We approached Memory Matters, an organisation that enriches the lives of people affected by dementia. The Rank Foundation awarded the first grant to Memory Matters back in Summer 2018 as part of Plymouth Place Based funding. 

They have a team of 20 people, including 1 part-time Rank employee, who works as the Plymouth Project Officer, as well as 1 Time to Shine Leader and Kate Smith and Laura Walker, the CEO’s of Memory Matters. Last year, they welcomed 75,076 people through their doors, including organisations hiring their rooms for conferences, meetings and activity sessions, as well as customers enjoying food in the Café and people looking for advice and guidance in our Memory Matters Hub (dementia advice centre). In 2019, The Hub supported 278 families that have been affected by dementia.

“There’s no such thing as ‘normal’ in the Memory Matters world. No two days are ever the same. We run many different projects – Memory Matters Workshops  (these run every day all over Cornwall), we provide Training all over the UK (as well as regularly training nurses in large local hospitals – sometimes every week), Moments Café – an innovative social enterprise Café open to the public, Memory Matters Hub (our dementia advice centre) which is open 6 days a week above Moments Café, Memory Matters Inside (a weekly project that teaches prisoners how to provide dementia therapy to other prisoners), as well as scoping out new projects on the horizon; like the Memory Matters Fellowship  (enabling local communities to run dementia groups with our support every week). It’s usually pretty busy!

Since the 21st March, the world has changed a bit. Moments Café has closed, but not before the staff spent the week asking all our customers whether they would like us to keep in touch with them, which was tough to do and a financial worry. We have furloughed 10 staff members that worked in the Café. The team, however, are spending time supporting each other with weekly film nights, P.E with Joe Wicks exercises and daily zoom catch ups – a few of the team live alone so this contact is so vital for them and also very beneficial in keeping their spirits up. 

The rest of the team are busier than ever. The whole team are very creative, and our organisation is built on looking for the positives in everything we do. I guess when we work with people living with a life limiting disease, it’s important to make the best of every opportunity. The Memory Matters Workshop teams run 10 different dementia workshops a week, so they have approx. 70 people living with dementia to support. They are doing this by weekly phone calls and sending out weekly activity sheets to take part in at home. For those that can get online, we are running zoom sessions – these have been amazing, not only are they seeing their peers and gaining some activity to keep their brains exercised but they are learning new digital skills that means they can also connect with family members easier too. 

Our Dementia Advice Centre (Memory Matters Hub) – sees many people coming in off the street for advice – this provision hasn’t changed; it’s just not face to face anymore. We are also spending time catching up with those that came to see us in the last 6 months, to ensure they are well connected and have a weekly chat and signposting as required. We also run a Young Onset Group (YOG) and a Football Memory Café with Plymouth Argyle so there are a few more people to try and get online. This is no mean feat, trying to ensure that the systems are the easy to use, as there usually isn’t anyone else to help. Also, trying to access technology is difficult too. So, in total we are supporting approximately 130 people living with dementia and their carers. 

We are sending out a daily newsletter, which has been very well received and ensures that despite physical distance, we are still connected to those that are interested in what we do. We have received a great response from our service users and they really appreciate our daily contact. We have recently put together a quick 15-minute video to share with anyone who is going to volunteer for local councils. Many will not have training and a few hints and tips on how to communicate effectively with someone with memory loss may be helpful. 

This period is going to be tough for everyone, people running services, furloughed staff worried about how this will affect their lives and also those we support, locked at home when you don’t remember why. There will be some very difficult moments coming, we know that. All we can do is the best we can right now, with the information we’ve got. Social Entrepreneurs are agile beings, they shapeshift, are resilient and the team at Memory Matters are no different. With the amazing support from funders and friends in the business community we can only press forward, positively.”

Contact Emma Ridley – Communications Officer (also found on RankNet) for more information emma@memorymatterssw.co.uk.

COVID-19 Update

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During these uncertain times, please be assured that The Rank Foundation is fully operational and have put the following measures in place:

 

  • We have launched our Emergency Fund, for immediate grants of up to £750 to purchase equipment, technology or memberships, available to our existing network and not just current grant recipients

 

  • We have launched our Resilience Fund, for grants to cover cashflow, fundraising and loss of income challenges relating to the current covid-19 related climate, available to our RankNet members. This includes those facing significant, unplanned demand on services.

 

  • We have streamlined internal processes, including trustee approval, to ensure a swift and timely response to all requests

 

  • We will continue to work in partnership with other funders where possible, actively contributing to a number of ongoing discussions at a national level

 

  • We remain committed to our earlier promises regarding flexible use of funds for existing grants, adapting for other use and adjusting timetables and reporting requirements if required

 

  • Whilst the Emergency & Resilience Funds are only available to our RankNet members, our Pebble Grants programme has reopened to allow for wider, public access. Further information will be posted on our website in due course. Our major grants programme will be suspended for the moment in order that we focus our attention and resources on meeting the more immediate operational needs of our network.

 

David Sanderson, CEO, The Rank Foundation

Rank Aspire Residential – March 2020

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Nick Cooke, a current Rank Aspire leader, has given us a fantastic roundup of the three day residential at Windermere, the Lake District. This was the second time in six months that the group met as a whole.

Nick is a Health and Wellbeing Coach at Credu, which supports carers and their families in Powys and North Wales. They help carers to both look after their loved ones and take care of themselves as individuals.

Here is Nick’s summary of the residential:

So after a 5 hour drive from South Wales, I arrived at Windermere and walked into the swanky Low Wood Hotel overlooking Lake Windermere. Sounds like something from Game of Thrones!

I was greeted by most of the other Aspire Project leaders and straight away it just felt like a great atmosphere.

Shortly after we did some ice breakers (which are always great) and we were split into groups of three and discussed what we had being doing over the last 6 months and how we felt we had changed during the process. It was nice to catch up with the others straight away and hear more about their experiences. We then did feedback to the whole group.

After a nice meal we came back to the table and used Satori cards, which tell us our leadership style. We’d used these on the Leeds residential back in November, but I was keen to see whether or not I had the same result. It turns out I did (I had a Visionary both times), but this time I had even more cards that would suggest so. Some other the others like Suhail actually had a different result which is really interesting!

Later in the evening we used self-esteem cards. We were each given a pile of cards with positive statements on, then we had to put the card face down in front of the person that we believed it related to. This was such a fantastic exercise to do because when everyone read through the cards they had received you could see their faces light up. I know some of us needed a boost like that.

After we finished, a group of us went for a swim (not in the lake, too cold!) but in the hotel’s indoor pool. We were properly caught up by this point and it was really nice to be given the chance to chill after a lot of travelling.

The next day somehow I made it to breakfast before the majority and treated myself to a fry-up but also a bowl of fruit, balance is important!

Talking of balance, shortly after breakfast we were taken to our meeting room and met our outdoor instructors who told us we’d be doing abseiling and a Via Ferrata, which, to my understanding at the time, was climbing through a cave on ropes. Sounded cool to me!

Now at this point I remember Ollie (or one of the others)  joke about not being good with heights, or not being able to do it, but despite my nerves I was sure I wanted to try.

After a minibus ride down lanes that reminded me of home and that Muzi described as “feeling like a different world” we arrived at Hodge Quarry.  Chris (one of our instructors) called it the Cathedral Cavern.

After safety talks and getting our harnesses on, we arrived at the point we’d be abseiling from, two at a time. Now it felt real, up until this point I’d been confident but I could already feel my legs wobbling. I thought to myself, I need to go first otherwise my nerves will get too much. I, and the fearless Lawrence, went first. He seemed to rocket down there before I’d even gone over the edge. My instructor was called Justin and he kept encouraging me with every step I took. A few steps down and I realised it was VERY slippy and well let’s just say my gopro caught some funny moments! At the bottom I felt a sense of relief but the sense of achievement was something I haven’t experienced much of before. Shortly after, I was joined by Suhail, Razina and Muzi who all did great and seemed to love the experience. One at a time, we were joined by everyone, each with their own story of their experience, some of which made me feel lucky of mine. Initially, Eve had ended up upside down, and Ben, sliding down on his stomach, but both kept their heads and managed to complete the abseil!

After this, came an equally challenging, if not harder challenge, navigating our way up through the loose slate with a big drop to our side. I think a lot of us, myself included were mentally drained at this point, it was tough down there. However, what was really lovely about this was I could hear every single person supporting each other the whole way. Lucy and Suhail, both great instructors on their own projects, came into their own whilst helping people to the top. Once we reached the top however, we were met by puzzled looks from the instructors who stood beneath a waterfall blocking our path to the top. Moments later, one at a time, we were climbing up a waterfall.

Now I know how it feels to be scared of heights and I could see some struggling to cross the stream before the initial climb. So I thought I’d like to make it easier for them and stand in the stream to help them cross, this went down well!

Everyone was safe and sound, back on the minibus, having lunch and on the road again, this time to the Via Ferrata. On arrival we went through the same process of getting harnesses on and safety talks. Followed by a short bus journey and walk to the entrance of the mine. As a tall person, and I think some of the boys will agree, that was a back workout walking through there!

Shortly after we were climbing a ladder, clipping onto loops as we got higher and faced with a bridge, with the only place to put one’s feet, being a single rope, I was grateful for the ropes either side to put my hands! I was recording the whole thing and had seen Suhail, Lawrence, Muzi and Razina do fantastic in front of me. I was a bit unsteady at first but settled into a rhythm. I was followed by Sarah and Sam. Sarah was terrified and really working hard to push through. Words from myself and Sam and from those below, Ben, Zoe and Ollie helped, but the resilience of Sarah to keep going was amazing to see.

Slowly but surely we all navigated up and down over bridges and up ladders and then back down again. On the descent, conversations with the group and about Harry Potter from the staff Helen, Natalie and Janice were welcomed by myself, it brought everything back to reality and I was really enjoying the experience.

Once finished I was met with the group that didn’t do the Via Ferrata, all to which had said navigating their way up loose slates was really difficult, but that they had been glad to do it.

On the way back to the hotel everyone seemed exhausted, many of us were asleep but I enjoyed learning about the area with Chris. That evening we had some time to unwind and the outdoor pool and spa was welcomed after a long day. Many of us felt tired but great after a new experience.

The following morning we gave feedback on the previous day, many of us saying similar things that our experience was challenging, fun and fulfilling. We did a team enterprise task after this, two teams, a list of challenges with points, with the goal to get the most points.

The challenges ranged from taking photos of the group in leadership and social situations, to stacking a deck of cards and lego houses, to writing about who has inspired us as individuals.

The other team ended up winning, despite our team completing more tasks. We had missed out important details and therefore had point deductions, which is a lesson to take, to pay attention to detail. All in all, this challenge was great, the team worked well and everyone knew their role.

After a final evaluation, our time at this residential had come to an end, everyone was leaving feeling accomplished, what an amazing experience!