The Importance of Partnership
Our partnership with the Coventry Building Society initially began in the summer of 2016, and since then we have not only achieved significant funding for the Trust but our residents have also benefitted from hands-on help from the Society with their gardens, decorating and events.
Partnerships are absolutely key to our work and they come in many guises. Some are forged at the very beginning during the development process, with local councils, care services and finance institutions for example. We consider ourselves very fortunate to partner with the Coventry Building Society in both raising funds and volunteering opportunities through their own community partnership programme.
Partnership is one of those words that means more than the word itself portrays, it’s something that has real depth to it. Shared values, similar skill set, working together, joining forces, working as one team together, for the benefit of others and in this case, older communities in Coventry.
Our fashion show at Earlsdon Park was a prime example of joining together to benefit others, with 45 staff from both organisations, plus residents, all giving up their valuable time to either model the clothes or volunteer their services for the evening. In total we raised £1,606, something that could not have happened without our partnership with the Coventry Building Society.
The amount will be divided between ExtraCare’s three schemes, Willowbrook, Princethorpe and Humber Court, and one retirement village, Earlsdon Park, in the city. It will go towards health and well-being activities for residents to decrease the chances of isolation and loneliness, and to encourage independent living.
This is the second major partnership event between ExtraCare and the Coventry, following an abseil that took place at Earlsdon last November.
These events exemplify how people of all ages, all sizes, from all walks of life, in partnership are invaluable in assisting ExtraCare to make a difference to life in old age as we know it and challenge the misconceptions around retirement and what can and can’t be achieved.
Pictured are Willowbrook residents Pam Brookes and Lily Williams with Coventry Building Society’s Mortgage Operations Manager Steve Uranjek
Catherine Duffield-Smith, Trusts and Foundations Fundraiser
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