Home care franchise Walfinch Southampton is pressing on with its campaign to raise money for local charity Caraway. Most recently the dedicated team raised a total of £525 by taking part in the Alzheimer’s Society Memory Walk and holding a Halloween Spooktacular Cake and Bake Sale.
Angela Harding, co-franchisee at Walfinch Southampton, care co-ordinator Robin Boulter, and Jo, one of the home care team, walked 6km along the seafront at Southsea as part of the memory walk.
“We chatted with many people along the way, and raised £180 from our sponsors, which we split between the Alzheimer’s Society and Caraway, the local charity supporting older people with dementia through memory cafes and social support.” Walfinch Southampton helps Caraway run a monthly memory cafe for people with memory issues and their carers in Potters Court, Maybush, in co-operation with St Peter’s Church. It is also helping raise money for Caraway to take on a chaplain to offer outreach support to families living with dementia across Southampton.
“It was a glorious day, we raised awareness for Caraway from the notices pinned to the back of our Alzheimer’s Society T-shirts, and met lots of local people,” says Robin. “It was well worth the sore feet the next day!”
Spooktacular Cakes
The team also staged a Halloween cake and bake sale in their office building on 31 October.
“We decorated the foyer, persuaded Ellie and Hollie the receptionists to wear witches hats, and set up our stall, with decorations including Harry the fluffy spider and a pumpkin I carved into the shape of a VW van,” says Robin.
“The lemon drizzle, salted caramel and cupcakes, plus flapjacks and chocolate and banana muffins, sold out!” says Robin. They were variously made by Laura Pineiro, co-owner of Walfinch Southampton, Robin and Jo. Walfinch quality and compliance manager Amanda Keeler also came along to help, along with Walfinch senior franchise support manager Julie Farrow, who is also Walfinch Southampton’s franchise support manager.
As well as buying cakes, people from other companies in the business centre made donations – including money raised by a pumpkin carving competition held by a neighbour business.
“In total we made £345 – more than twice our target,” says Robin, “and we spread the word about Caraway and Walfinch.”
The team’s next charity event will be a Christmas cake and bake sale in December, including a Christmas draw.
