What has been happening at Hidden Warriors CIC?
The Doing Our Bit grant received from Stafford Borough Council has really helped us to make a difference in the Staffordshire Community. So far, the grant has been used to provide 19 Christmas Boxes to families identified that would appreciate some support during difficult times. Two days before Christmas we got in touch with the Retirement Living Officer at a 55 home complex for the elderly and supplied each resident with a box of chocolates and sweets. Some of the elderly at this complex have little or no family and the gesture was very much appreciated among their community.
Since the start of the new year we have continued support for the elderly with the aim of tackling loneliness and in light of the National lockdown, isolation was going to affect many. The residents of the complex usually have a common room where they can socialise but covid has put a stop to this. To help those isolated away from the community we have provided a delivery of fresh flowers to the complex on a weekly basis for the past 6 weeks, not only do the flowers help lift spirits, the residents are able to take a stem or two away with them to their living space. We have also helped by providing fresh flowers with chocolate and cake to those who have had a birthday since the start of the year. Again, those with no or little family are very appreciative of this gesture and it helps to remind that they are not forgotten. To unease boredom we have also provided new jigsaw puzzles and art therapy books. The support for the elderly has continued and will until the National lockdown is over. The Doing Our Bit fund has directly helped us to support close to 100 people at the time of writing this.
Hidden Warriors CIC has also been providing direct support to Veterans and their families, as our stature continues to grow we are seeing an increase for requests to support. This is fundamentally what Hidden Warriors CIC was set up for, to support the families of Armed Forces Veterans. This year with the impact of many challenges the need for support will only increase across the Country, we aim to be ready for whatever may come our way. Sticking with the Veterans, we were contacted via social media to see if we could help reunite an elderly Veteran with his brothers World War 2 Campaign Medals that were not claimed, his brothers have now passed (one KIA during the War). To save time by trying to retrieve the medals via the Government website we were provided the necessary details to ascertain that the Veterans brothers served and the medals they were entitled to, Hidden Warriors CIC then purchased replicas and these are now treasured by the elderly Veteran. We have also provided five Veterans with their UK Armed Forces Veteran badges.
What is next?
There are plenty of discussions among supportive organisations in how we can work together on joint ventures so the right support is given to the right people, any joint venture that we are involved in will be shared on our social media platforms.
Fundraising, the dates are yet to be confirmed for two fundraisers. One of these is a completely new idea that should help raise awareness around Mental Health and the other will be Jack’s Journey 2021, if you are unfamiliar with Jack’s Journey there is a story within our latest news and also a quick video at the link below:
Thank you to all those that continue to support Hidden Warriors CIC by purchasing merchandise, donating and by sharing our posts on social media.
