Chestnut Tree House Gardening Day
The Chestnut Tree House is a children’s charity providing hospice care services and community support for children and young people with progressive life-shortening conditions throughout Sussex and South East Hampshire.
When our team arrived the amazing staff there gave a tour of their building and grounds, and showed us some of the amazing facilities and equipment that is available to the children they help and care for.
One of our amazing crew, Lauren, said “The therapy rooms and activity rooms were really something special and we were able to hear about the work they do with family members as well as the children themselves. They have a machine in the computer room for children who have limited, or no motor skills, which tracks their eye movements so they are able to draw a picture for their parents for the first time, and that made me very emotional. It is inspiring what they do there and it felt really good to lend a hand in improving the area outside.”
Everything at the Hospice is funded by donations, fundraising and their charity shops, and they rely heavily on volunteers to help at the Hospice and their grounds. By giving our time to help with their gardening, they have more much needed funds to spend elsewhere to continue their amazing work.
After the tour our volunteers were then given a lovely list of things to do:
• raking a pathway through a wooded forest in order to make a dirt track for the children to walk along.
• cleaning collection buckets and putting new stickers on them ready for new donations
• weeding and edging all along a big stretch of fencing.
Our team leader and head of organisation for this trip, Joe, said “2 frogs were found on the day and were safely moved away from the work area” good to know Joe!
After all their hard work the Cellular Solutions’ gardening team sat down for a delicious cake made for them by the Hospice staff, and they sat back and admired their day’s achievements.
Volunteer days like these are so rewarding for the people that go. Not only are they a great team building exercise from a business point of view, but they are so important to the continued running of Chestnut Tree House, and so very much appreciated by the families that are helped there.
Debbie, who was also on our gardening team, sums it up perfectly – “We can so often underestimate the work that these hospices can do, but they have so much value and purpose. To be able to bring love and hope in the midst of despair, to be a light in the darkness – what an extraordinary gift to be able to give. And even though we can’t do everything, the little bit that we can do by raising money or doing a bit of gardening – it all helps and makes a difference, helps Chestnut Tree House reach their goal.”
If you would like to find out more about organising a corporate volunteer day with the chestnut Tree House then please click here.
