Abbeyfield care staff step out for fundraising challenge

New Malden Care Home staff step up to support residents

Three members of staff at Abbeyfield House, a residential care home in New Malden, are walking to encourage donations for their residents’ fund.

Care Assistants Sonia Edgington and Elaine Gould and Housekeeper Linda Whitcombe have taken up walking challenges that they are completing every day throughout May, which is also National Walking Month.

Sonia and Linda have set a target of two miles’ walking every weekday, while Elaine is ditching the bus to walk to work.

The trio hope to raise at least £1,000 to provide activities and essentials for their residents. Despite it having initially felt a little ambitious to them, they are well on their way to smashing their target, having so far received sponsorship amounting to nearly £800.

Sonia explains, “We are really stretched in terms of budget, and some of our residents have very limited disposable income or family that they can rely on to support them.

“I asked our manager what we could do to raise some extra money, to fund things they may need, such as toiletries, clothes, make-up and anything that’s personally important for them.

“We struggle to cover those sorts of costs and have had to make cutbacks on the activities we can run to do so – particularly on entertainers who come in from outside.

“We also like to take our residents out occasionally, to places like the beach or the zoo, but again these come at a considerable cost that we sometimes cannot budget for.”

“Those outings are definitely a highlight for them,” Linda agrees, “and we don’t want any of our residents to have to go without the essentials that they need either, which they may not be able to afford by themselves.

“We took inspiration from Dementia UK, who always encourage their supporters to walk to fundraise for them, so we thought there was no reason we couldn’t do something similar for our residents.”

Sonia herself doesn’t drive and enjoys daily walks after work. For Linda, on the other hand, walking is quite a new hobby – she confesses that she drives everywhere – but her dog is enjoying the extra fresh air!

The residents at Abbeyfield House are keenly following their progress and will often give thanks or provide words of encouragement to spur them on.

Elaine saw Sonia and Linda’s efforts and wanted to get on board with the fundraising too, setting herself the challenge of walking to work every day.

She says, “It’s new for me too. I try not to do too much walking, as I don’t find it so easy. However, I knew that this was something small I could do to help our residents.”