Blessing Our Care Homes this Easter

Church Champion Sally Bates shares how churches in her area teamed up and worked together to spread hope and share the love of Christ in local care homes this Easter time.

 

11 churches across our area (Frinton-on-Sea, Kirby-le-Soken and Walton on the Naze) came together this Easter to bless our 21 local care homes and sheltered housing units, with their 550 residents and 450 staff.

 

 

Each resident received an Easter card with a hand-written message of hope and a chocolate heart.  Cards were circulated among the churches and individually written by members of the different congregations.

 

Each manager was given a resource pack to support them with providing spiritual care for their residents, including some laminated prayers, some quiz booklets, a perpetual calendar with a Bible verse for each day, DVDs of Easter hymns and exercises to do at home, a booklet for carers called ‘How to take care of yourself in stressful times’ from the Bible Reading Fellowship, a booklet explaining the Easter message, and contact details for all the churches.  The contents of these packs were contributed by the different churches.

 

Each staffroom received a luxury hamper with chocolates, biscuits, tea, coffee and toiletries to show our appreciation of all they have done – and are doing – during such challenging times.  Members of churches across the area donated items and gifts to help make up the hampers.

 

 

We hope and pray that by visiting each home during Holy Week to deliver these goodies, staff and residents will know they are loved and appreciated and that this may lead to future opportunities for churches to befriend and support our local care homes.

Sally Bates, Associate Pastor, Frinton Free Church and member of Anna Chaplaincy network. Sally is also a Faith in Later Life Church Champion. For more information about our free Church Champion community click here.