Year: 2017

Sally Hanlin and Ben Hughes attended an insightful and motivating evening with John Bird, a peer in the House of Lords and founder of The Big Issue, who came to Norwich to share his story of setting up the publication, the more recent Big Issue Invest programme and his ongoing fight for a better deal for vulnerable people.

The event, which was organised by Your Own Place CIC and hosted by Rebecca White, Director and Founder of this social enterprise, and also an Empanda Board Member, took place at St Giles House Hotel in Norwich last week.

Follow this link for full coverage in the Eastern Daily Press.

We were delighted to be presented with a cheque to the value of £250 from the Wymondham Golf Society, as a contribution towards a vehicle for adults with a learning difficulty using the Oak Trees Respite and Supported Living Services in Attleborough.

Outings and trips out, including going to the cinema, swimming, bowling, going to restaurants/pubs and out of town supermarkets, are thoroughly enjoyed by our guests and service users and create happy memories of their time with us.

Formed in 1974, The Wymondham Golf Society has some 60 members and holds five matches a year at different courses and three inter-club matches. John Barnard, Hon Secretary, has devised a clever way in which to raise money for charity at these events through giving out fines to members for minor ‘misdemeanours’!

Oak Trees holds a special place in the hearts of Committee Member Roger Morgan and his wife Jane. Their son James, who has Asperger’s, spends three weeks a year at the Respite Service.

A big thank you to John, Roger, Jane and the members of  the Wymondham Golf Society for their kind donation which brings our vehicle fundraising total to £3,688.52.

1 April marked Empanda’s first Anniversary and we celebrated this milestone in style with a ‘cup cake and cuppa ’ tour around all of our projects, meeting with customers and staff for a chat and a well-deserved thanks for their hard work during our first year.

We started our day in Suffolk, where we met with customers, staff and one of our board members at the Brandon Day Centre, who enjoyed their cupcakes with an early morning cuppa.

Next stop was Attleborough, where we spent some time chatting with a customer and staff at the Oak Trees Respite Service, before driving up to North Norfolk to Cromer, Sheringham and Stalham for afternoon tea with some of our staff and young people.

We were delighted to be joined by our HR consultant, Flic Henry, who drove up from London to spend the whole day with us, getting to know our staff and customers.

It’s hard to believe that Empanda is now one year old! In some ways, it seems like only yesterday that we were planning it’s creation and in other ways, it seems like a like a lifetime ago. Our first year has been a real roller coaster ride with, at times, tough roads to navigate, but we are pleased that we go into our second year feeling positive and excited of what’s to come.

Credit must go to the wonderful group of people we work alongside, who have helped make our dream a reality. Our staff team, have proved to be caring, dedicated and great ambassadors for Empanda. Our commissioners and colleagues in local government have been loyal, supportive and great advocates. Our board, who volunteer their time and expertise, are creative, innovative and encouraging of all that we do and our partners help us by providing excellent services to support the work of Empanda. We are extremely fortunate to have this backing and know that we have only made it this far because of the combined efforts of our colleagues, commissioners, board and partners.

As we enter our second year, we are excited about exploring new ways to improve all the services we provide and to forge ahead with our plans to raise sufficient funding to purchase a vehicle for Oak Trees and to transform the Brandon Day Centre into a vibrant community hub that can be enjoyed by the people who use the day care service, as well as the wider community.

 

On Wednesday 18^th we met with Angela Jiggins and Gerri Fox of St Nicholas Hospice Care. They were looking for a venue in Brandon to establish Open House sessions where they offer a range of services to individuals with life threatening and long term health issues, their carers and family members. Having looked around the Day Centre, they felt our meeting room would be an ideal location and we agreed that their first session will take place on Monday 27 February 2017 from 2pm and then the fourth Monday of every month thereafter. We are delighted to have met them and for them to run this valuable service from the Day Centre.

The link below will take you to their website where you can get more information on the services they offer.

https://stnicholashospice.org.uk/news-community/events-listing/open-house-brandon/

Yesterday marked the start of Empanda’s involvement with the Brandon Day Centre. The senior team were all on hand to meet customers and staff, as well as local councillors who popped in to wish us well on our first day.

We enjoyed having a chat with customers over a cup of tea after lunch and finding out what the Day Centre means to them. Here are just a few snippets …

“Coming to the Centre means a lot. I can talk to people my own age. My body might be dead but my mind is very much alive and that’s why I like joining in with quizzes and codewords.”

Helen

 

 

 

“I come to the Centre every day and I enjoy it because there’s always something going on and people are in and out all the time. I am a Spurs supporter and used to play football and cricket, so I like joining in with games.”

Jim

2017 is very much a year for developing and maximising the potential within the Centre for existing and future day care customers and broadening the service offer to attract the wider Brandon community.

Following a request to friends on Facebook to donate unwanted Christmas gifts for residents at the three Empanda Young People’s projects, Housing Support Worker, Stacey Carter, was delighted to receive 52 items (two for each resident), including chocolates, cosmetics and clothing. Stacey then took time to wrap each present to be handed out to residents before the big day.

We are amazed at the generosity of so many people and would like to send out a big ‘thank you’ message on behalf of Empanda staff and YPS residents to Stacey and her friends for making such a difference at Christmas to the young people we support.

A big thank you to the staff team at Empanda who voted to support those in need instead of receiving a token Christmas gift from the company.

To mark our first Christmas, we wanted to do something in keeping with our ethos and ideology and were deeply moved by the plight of those living in Yemen. With 7 million people at risk of starvation and with easily treated diseases killing people unable to access or afford treatment, we asked staff if they would agree to us using the money earmarked for a gift to go to this appeal instead.

A unanimous ‘yes’ vote from staff meant we were able to make a donation to the Yemen Crisis Appeal on their behalf, which in some small way, will make a difference to those in need.

Link to the Appeal film: http://www.dec.org.uk/appeal/yemen-crisis-appeal