Raising awareness and funds for dementia on Elf Day 2020
Working in the community is something we’ve always done, whether in social care or nursing. Community spirit can be so motivating and uplifting, especially during hard times, so we pulled out all the stops recently to spread some much-needed cheer and raise awareness and funds for dementia.
December 9th was Elf Day – an annual event organised by the Alzheimer’s Society as a fun, community-based fundraiser and a celebration of the good times in the run-up to Christmas.
A bit like the Macmillan Coffee Morning, Elf Day is an opportunity to stir up come community spirit in all kinds of ways, from dressing up and baking to crafts and raffles. It’s a different kind of fundraiser that involves having fun, and we certainly enjoyed ourselves on our first Elf Day at Ambiance Care!
Although Ambiance Care is a fledgling business, community has always been integral to how we work, so we organised several activities for Elf Day 2020 that involved different people in different ways.
Elf Advent for the Alzheimer’s Society
The first of these activities was the Elf Advent Calendar – a raffle that saw people choose a date and make a small donation to the Alzheimer’s Society to be in with a chance of winning some lovely prizes. Alongside our grand prize we had a couple of bonus prizes along the way, and drew a couple of names each day.
The grand prize winner was announced on our Facebook page on December 15th and they can now enjoy their chocolates and champagne before Christmas arrives! But really, everyone was a winner in that they made a difference to the lives of people living with dementia – together, we exceeded our £150 target for the Alzheimer’s Society, which will go towards the charity’s good work in supporting people with dementia and research into a cure.
Sponsored Acts of Kindness
Alongside Elf Advent we performed some Sponsored Acts of Kindness in the community, delivering locally made certificates and elf-themed cakes to our key workers, including the staff who support people living with dementia at Offerton Day Centre. When we told local baker Claire at Nice Buns Bakery in Stockport what we doing she generously donated the cakes, which were delivered to the centre by our Founder Diane. We’d like to thank Claire for performing her own Act of Kindness!
Cakes were also made and delivered to frontline workers at Tameside Hospital and to the police force, who got involved in Elf Day themselves by taking their own little elf out and about with them on their rounds.
Elf Day has been a wonderful celebration of care in our communities, and a way of showing how much we appreciate those people and organisations who work so tirelessly to care for others.
The team at Ambiance Care has thoroughly enjoyed celebrating this special event, raising money for the Alzheimer’s Society and awareness of dementia in the community; we can’t wait until next year, it’s our aim to make each Elf Day bigger and better than the last and we hope you’ll join us for Elf Day 2021!