The Purple Thread

Jewish Care is the purple thread that binds our community together in a spirit of love and responsibility. 

The purple thread is part of Jewish Care’s Remember Campaign which aims to highlight the range of services we provide and how the need for funding is greater than ever.

Please take a moment to watch our Campaign film for 2013 which highlights some of the less well known services that we provide. Social workers, family carers and dementia specialists helping hundreds of people each and every day. And please, share it with your family and friends.

_______________________________________________________

“We can’t do without the support of voluntary organisations like Jewish Care.” - London Mayor, Boris Johnson.

Twelve hundred guests attended the Grosvenor House Hotel on Park Lane for Jewish Care‘s Annual Campaign Dinner where they were treated to a performance from singer Emeli Sandé and a well-received keynote speech from London Mayor Boris Johnson. View the photographs …

News round up

Top stories in the news this week: via – guardian.co.uk and jewishcare.org

Making sure personal budgets work for everyone across health and care

This article in the Guardian discusses the findings of a survey on those who receive personal budgets for care and support. The findings show apositive impact on those who received them in most areas of life including improvements in mental wellbeing and physical health. The survey has also collected valuable data which can be used to further improve health and care  services in the future.

Read more at http://www.guardian.co.uk/social-care-network/2013/may/29/making-personal-budgets-work?CMP=twt_gu

What role should customer service play in social care?

With new government reforms to the financing of social care, how can we ensure that the money being spent is leading to a constant high standard of social care? A benchmarking system, based on customer feedback, could be the answer.

Read more at http://www.guardian.co.uk/social-care-network/2013/jun/03/customer-service-in-social-care?CMP=twt_gu

Why now is a better time than ever to volunteer

The impact of the London Olympics in 2012 brought volunteering into the public eye. This article looks at the ways we can harness that spirit of enthusiasm for volunteering and keep it going.

Read more at http://www.guardian.co.uk/voluntary-sector-network/2013/jun/05/now-better-time-volunteer?utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitterfeed

Joining the pecking order as birds of prey visit Sidney Corob House

Residents of Jewish Care’s Sidney Corob House in West Hampstead, were intrigued by a visit from Henfold Birds of Prey on Monday 10th June. There were three hawks, a kestrel, a barn owl and a Siberian Hawk Owl for the residents to stroke.

  

Sheree Charalampous, a volunteer at Sidney Corob House said: “The residents’ favourite was 24 year old Alfie the barn owl.”

Sidney Corob House resident, Michelle Kotlar (pictured above left) who is a bird lover said: “I was so happy to have the opportunity to hold Alfie. He was very comfortable with me. I keep a  budgie in my room and I also have a collection of owl ornaments as they are my favourite bird.”

Saying ‘thank you’ – how easy it is to forget

Last week was National Volunteers’ week – hopefully it did not pass you by. As NCVO state in their guide to thanking volunteers – ‘If, like many charities, your trustees and leadership team have an ambitious vision, then the pressure is on to always look forward, at the expense of reflection.’

Sonia says :

We are always being told we need to look forward, keep our eye on the goal and that looking back and living in the past can be counter-productive.  All this is all well and good but a bit of reflection helps us to learn from our mistakes, analyse our actions and move forward.  It also gives us an opportunity to thank people who have made a contribution to our lives or the lives of people we care for.

Volunteers’ week gives us that opportunity to not just thank people glibly but also to reflect on the enormous contribution they have made to our work.  Jewish Care has nearly 3,000 regular volunteers who support our work through their involvement in our governance, lay leadership, fundraising and of course the activity and support to those who use our services.

They are so much a part of the organisation that it is easy to forget that they offer this time willingly and free of charge.  It is also easy to be critical if things don’t go exactly as we want them.  However, we should never forget that without the volunteer workforce, some services simply would not run (such as our community centres) and others would not be enriched with meaningful activity for those who are most forgotten in our society.

Volunteers are the backbone of most voluntary organisations and increasingly the backbone of our communities and statutory service provision.  We can be forgiven for not knowing it was a time to celebrate Volunteers’ week last week because of the lack of media coverage.  We cannot be forgiven if we didn’t take the time to stop and reflect what our services would look like without them and take a moment to say ‘thank you.’

Sonia Douek is Head of volunteering and community development at Jewish Care and has developed a strategy for the organisation that has seen the growth of volunteers in the organisation reach 2,800 people.

National Volunteers’ Week

This week is national Volunteers’ Week, an annual celebration of volunteering which takes place on 1-7 June and highlights the fantastic contribution of millions of volunteers across the UK.

Our volunteers often say that the pleasure they get from giving is thanks enough, but at Jewish Care we are always looking for opportunities to express our gratitude to the very special people who choose to give their time to us.

Jewish Care simply would not be the organisation it is without the contribution and support of our volunteers who strengthen the organisation and our community in so many ways.

So, why not take a few minutes this week to thank your volunteers on behalf of Jewish Care and make sure that they know how grateful we are!

The 2013 London Marathon: update

Our four runners in the 2013 Virgin London Marathon, James Soames, Jonathan Zenios, Hanan Taylor and James Tarlton raised over £16k for Jewish Care, completing the gruelling 26.2 mile course with finish times ranging from 3.53 to 3.26 hours.

James Soames said:

“From the poignant 30 second silence ahead of the start to the deafening crowds on the mall, this year’s London Marathon was one to remember.

I battled heat exhaustion (having done my training in sub-zero temperatures) and tearing, screaming muscle pain to secure a personal best time of 3 hours, 26 minutes.

Richard Branson shook my hand as I crossed the finish line and my journey was complete. My task now is to turn those sponsorship pledges into reality so I can hit my target.”

James Tarlton said:

“The experience was so enormous and emotional that it still actually seems surreal… Not only did I revel in the carnival like atmosphere, giving out ‘high fives’ to the kids on the streets, and waving to the crowd and TV cameras but also felt truly honoured to be a citizen of such a great city who came out in their droves to line every inch of the course.

London is surely second to none in showing its support to those who put themselves forward for charity causes.”

On crossing the finish line James said he felt  “A strange concoction of euphoria, relief, pride and pain. If I had any fluid left in my body it would have come out in tears such was the overwhelming experience.”

Hanan Taylor said

“Once again, running among 36,000 people was an incredible experience, especially with everyone going through the same feelings and emotions.

“Emotional and in so much pain, but so proud to have finished the race and cross the line. I was given so much support by everyone I know which really helped me. Also the fact that I raised so much for Jewish Care made it all worth it at the end.

The pain is temporary but I will always remember the day!”

Read more at jewishcare.org/news

The 2013 London Marathon

The London Marathon is a great opportunity not only to take on a personal challenge, but to help out your favourite charity by raising vital funds.

So we’re very pleased to tell you about an amazing group of people who have done just that: they’ve chosen Jewish Care as the charity they would like to support while running the Marathon.

We caught up with our ‘fantastic four’ to find out what motivates them to take on the challenge.

 

Hanan Taylor

“I have been running for just over four years and this will be my second marathon.  My wife’s grandmother, Rose Henry is a resident in Jewish Care’s Clore Manor care home in Hendon.

Running the Marathon is a fantastic opportunity to give something back.  I want to show my family’s gratitude to the Jewish Care and its staff for their dedication and care to our family member.”

_____________________________________________________

James Soames

“I have been running for 4 years.. I started just before I turned the ripe old age of 40! After 22 years of not running (I was School captain of the Cross Country team until the age of 18) I signed up for the London Marathon, wanting to tick a major challenge off my ‘to-do’ list.

Shortly before I ran London in 2010 my sister in-law was diagnosed with aggressive Breast cancer and subsequently discovered that she had inherited the BRCA 2 gene (common in Ashkenazy Jews). Alas my wife also carries this genetic mutation which means that she has an over 80% chance of contracting breast cancer and has taken the brave decision to go through screening twice yearly over surgical prevention. In my view any course of action is brave! The additional worry is that this could also have passed to my daughters. My hope is that with medical advances, should they have to face this in the future, that they have many more options at their disposal.

The threat of cancer has cast a shadow over my family and whilst I have raised many thousands of pounds for Breast Cancer charities I felt that I should support the most respected of Jewish organisations. Jewish Care more than fills these shoes with their tireless and generous work.”

_____________________________________________________

James Tarlton

“Running the marathon has been a long standing ambition.  I had always said that if the opportunity ever came up to enter, that I would put in the training to truly give my best.  After 27 solid years of playing football this is my 2nd ever running event (last year’s Watford 10k being the first) and my first ever marathon.

Essentially my running life only started briefly a year ago in a 3 week stint between end of football season and the aforementioned 10k.  Training runs for the Marathon didn’t start until November 2012.

Raising money for Jewish Care as my chosen charity was an easy decision.  The historic efforts of my late Gran (Eva Weinstein) and Uncle (Stephen Weinstein), both well known characters at Jewish Care are etched into the charity’s distinguished history as selfless volunteers over the last 30 years.  Each day they worked hard to enrich the lives of the elderly and less fortunate.

It is now my turn to ensure this charitable association is pushed to a third generation, giving me the opportunity to say big ‘thanks’ for providing my family with the opportunity to represent such a noble and worthwhile community cause.

I intend to run in their honour as well as that of Jewish Care and as always, give of my best. “

_____________________________________________________

Jonathan Zenios – Jewish Care Treasurer:

“I ran in the Royal Parks Half marathon in October 2012 and so have been running pretty consistently for about 9 months. I have run on and off for many years and I  first attempted the London Marathon back in 1999 but had a bit of a disaster at the 21 mile mark so I am hoping to do better this time! But it has taken me nearly 15 years to try again: although I always felt I had to.

The training has been tough and time-consuming but my wife Tamara is also running the Marathon and while we have not actually been training very much together (we run at different paces) we have very much been training in parallel so we have decided we must be going through some joint mid-life crisis.

Jewish Care was the obvious choice of charity for me as I have been actively involved with the organisation for more than five years; I have been  a donor for longer and been a trustee and treasurer for the last three and a half years.

My involvement with Jewish Care has really been driven by a belief in the importance of the British Jewish Community in my life and the fantastic contribution that Jewish Care makes to that community.

With a background in finance and the City and working among highly paid professionals I am constantly in awe of the incredible commitment and work ethic of the hundreds of staff at Jewish Care.”

_____________________________________________________

Pretty amazing, don’t you think?

Please do support our runners by either visiting their personal fundraising pages, donating by TEXT or joining us by cheering them on at the Marathon this Sunday.

To visit each runner’s fundraising page, or for TEXT to donate details, visit our website and remember – we are grateful for all donations, big or small.

Who can I turn to? Information and advice services for older people

Reblogged from Age UK Blog:

This blog was contributed by Lucy Harmer, Age UK's Head of Services.

Many older people experience a complex interaction between living on a relatively low fixed income, declining health and mobility, and risk of social isolation. They need holistic, independent information and advice (I&A) from advisers with experience and knowledge of their specific issues. Good-quality I&A is essential to enable people to access entitlements and services in order to maintain a decent quality of life and to continue to live independently.

Read more… 468 more words

For information and advice, Jewish Care Direct is a confidential information, support and advice helpline.

Our advisers are friendly and helpful and can provide information on everything Jewish Care has to offer, as well as on a range of health, social care, welfare or community-related matters. If for any reason we are unable to help you, we will always try to put you in touch with an organisation that can. Visit www.jewishcare.org/helpline