Eye care home residents share uplifting ‘Boxes of Hope’ with pupils

Residents at a care home in Eye have been getting creative to make a positive impact on their local community. 

At Care UK’s Hartismere Place on Castleton Way, residents took part in a special project during Children’s Mental Health Week inspired by this year’s theme of ‘This is My Place’, which encourages children to feel a sense of belonging and emotional wellbeing.

The residents created ‘Boxes of Hope’, inspired by their own experiences in offering support and hope to young people, which were gifted to pupils at St Peter and St Paul CE Primary School.

Resident Cynthia Ridger, aged 97, said: “When I was a nurse, it was very difficult to support children’s mental health as it wasn’t widely discussed. However, if a child showed noticeable signs of struggling, I would allow them to take their time in speaking to me, and as we weren’t trained – I would go down the route of finding people who were.”

The school children were presented with the finished project, with each box containing cheerful, handwritten notes crafted by residents, offering encouragement, reassurance and support to the children receiving them.

Rebecca Calver, Home Manager at Hartismere Place, said: “It’s been wonderful to see the residents getting involved in this project and using their creativity to send messages of hope and encouragement to local children.

“Activities like this give everyone a chance to share positivity, and it’s lovely to see the residents enjoying themselves as well as making a difference in the community.

“We hope the children enjoyed receiving the boxes as much as the residents enjoyed making them.”

Hartismere Place, rated ‘outstanding’ by the Care Quality Commission, has been designed to deliver the very best standards of care and enable residents to lead active and fulfilling lives. The home provides full-time residential and dementia care, as well as short-term respite care, and the team also operates a day centre that is open to the community throughout the week.