Oake Meadows puts community in focus with new charity partnership

Oake Meadows in Taunton is continuing its community support with a partnership of a local homeless charity.

The home has established a relationship with Taunton-based charity, Arc, formerly Taunton Association for the Homeless, and has a series of events planned for the coming months.

As part of its fundraising activities, Oake Meadows’ Activities co-ordinator, Louis du Toi, recently joined more than 80 fundraisers for the Arc’s annual Big Sleep Out to raise money and awareness of the work the local charity does.

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Participants of the Big Sleep Out were required to spend the night on a sleeping bag and piece of cardboard, in the car park of Taunton Football Club. The event raised £10,792.54 in total for the charity.

The relationship with Arc has also benefitted the Wyvern Road care home. Each year, Marks & Spencer chooses local projects to get involved with and regularly chooses Arc as its Taunton-based charity.

This year, the charity asked the retailer to assist Oake Meadows with its dementia-friendly garden project.

M&S donated £500 for new plants and paint, and 12 of the retailer’s employees helped to transform the care home’s garden.

Katrina Ball, home manager at Oake Meadows said: “Our relationship with Arc has proven to be very successful and we are proud to support a charity that does a fantastic job of helping the most vulnerable individuals in our community.

“While it is important for us to have a strong community within Oake Meadows itself, it is just as important to help our local community and worthwhile causes in our area.”

Carol Brinson from ARC added: “Seeing our clients (some of the most vulnerable people in society) working in a team of people including M&S and Oake Meadows staff was heartening.”