From: Sally Pickering [mailto:
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Sent: 09 September 2011 11:23
To:
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Subject: in praise of fair shares
Lawrence
I forgot to say that, after your reminder to use Fair Shares, we got someone from Fair Shares to help us shift furniture into our new office in Cheltenham. They were absolutely fantastic and my staff were full of nothing but praise for Fair Shares and won’t forget to call you again in the future. It was great to have such a quick response (next day after we rang) and both Susan and Angela said how good it was to know that the work was really helpful to the volunteer as well as to us.
Sally Pickering
Chief Executive
Got an event to advertise, office space to share with another group, or are you looking for a partner for a project? Advertise your VCS wants and offers at the GAVCA VCS marketplace at http://www.glosvcsmarketplace.spruz.com/
| Fair Shares and mental health
Nicky has been a participant of Gloucester Fair Shares for nearly 10 years, since she was 25 years old. She is a bright, enthusiastic young woman, but this was not always so. When she joined she was very unwell. She had been diagnosed with schizophrenia, aged 14, had spent time in institutional care, and had just been moved into her own flat. However, her medication wasn’t working and she spent up to 20 hours a day bed-ridden and paralysed by anxiety and depression. She was so alienated from society that she couldn’t even watch television as she found it too upsetting. Nicky was referred to Fair Shares by a social worker. With the help of the Fair Shares Timebroker, she started to volunteer. Over the years she has done all sorts, from gardening and cleaning to administration. But her illness could still be debilitating, and she had periods when she still could not get out of bed. She found however that she was an expert cake-maker, and she started to bake cakes for events and occasions. This was not about producing the odd cake; it was baking on an industrial scale! She would bake 90 cakes at a time, for a Fair Shares Christmas party, as a thank you to the community mental health team, as a way of fundraising for charities. The process involved military precision, from purchasing ingredients through to getting the finished products delivered on time. Gradually her health improved. About a year ago she started helping in the kitchens at the Family Haven, a charity that supports homeless families. After 4 weeks, she was going there every day from 9am –3pm, helping with cooking and baking, with stocktaking and with record keeping on the computer. Her confidence grew. ‘I felt I had dignity and a feeling of purpose. I was doing something useful. Instead of being the untrustworthy Nicky who couldn’t get out of bed, I became the enthusiastic and reliable Nicky who couldn’t stay in bed!’ She started to get interested again in the world around her, watching television and following the news. She became motivated to lose weight, and got herself a treadmill. Participants from Fair Shares came around to help her set it up and to get her started, and within a few months she lost 6 stone. Nicky is now doing a full-time Access Course at Gloucestershire College. She’s looking to the future and at what she can do next. ‘My illness no longer defines or limits my life. Fair Shares has changed my life – I can’t talk highly enough about it’. |
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Rob – participant in Newent Rob is 64 and suffers from depression. This was brought on a few years ago when some very sad events happened in his life. The woman he was living with and planned to marry became ill and died very quickly. Rob had a good relationship with her children, but after her death they went to live with their birth father. Rob’s subsequent depression led to him being made redundant and then homeless. The Council re-housed him at Western Way, a supported housing scheme mostly for older people, where Rob is one of the youngest and physically fittest residents. From this point, Rob’s life started to improve. He started supporting the other residents at Western Way. The Village Agents who visit Western Way introduced him to Fair Shares. Between Western Way and Fair Shares Rob is kept really busy, and his depression has reduced. He is a fantastic volunteer having earned between 300 - 400 time credit hours with Fair Shares in less than 2 years. He does such a wide range of things: he gives people lifts to medical appointments; drives them to Fair Shares events (which he never misses) or to visit relatives; does practical building tasks; bakes excellent cakes; cooks whole spreads for Fair Shares events including quiches; helps in every way he can. And all the Fair Shares participants love him. Fair Shares has given Rob a way of valuing his volunteering. And, although generally he doesn’t ask for anything in return, very occasionally he has also benefited himself. For instance, when his car broke down he was able to borrow the Fair Shares Smart Car (this is a car donated to Fair Shares by a trustee who died of cancer). Rob was able to swap some of his time credits for payment of the use of the car, and just had to pay petrol. He was over the moon. And on his birthday, Fair Shares members gave him a lift to his party so that he could have a drink! |
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Heather – participant North Cotswolds Heather has been a participant since 2002, when she was a live-in carer. She found out about it at the council offices. She got involved ‘because we’re in the world to help one another.’ She’s done gardening, given lifts, helped with painting and decorating, regularly helps with social events and has baked cakes. Now she is older, she herself needs support. When she got her new computer – ‘my puter’ - Fair Shares helped her to get to grips with using it - ‘I was confused.dot.com’ - and also to get compensation for a fault- a participant who is a retired solicitor helped her to write three letters. A young man helps with her garden, and another has done some carpentry work. ‘Fair Shares provides great satisfaction, company and a chance to meet other people.’ |
Lynn - Participant and TrusteeLynn is a keen gardener, so when she moved into to a flat with no garden she joined Fair Shares and offered to garden for others. ‘I helped with hundreds of gardens, until I got a full-time job and didn’t have time for gardening so I offered to become a trustee instead’. She still does assignments when she can. Lynn has benefited from Fair Shares too. When she broke her leg, Fair Shares found her participants who provided massage and reflexology, which helped with her recovery; and Fair Shares helped her move house. ‘They sent two chaps with muscles and learning difficulties. I fed them and told them what to put where and they did it all’. Lynn is definitely ‘in credit’ but uses her own credits to get Fair Shares support for other organisations she’s involved in – for instance getting a Fair Shares member to build a flower tub for Newent in Bloom. |
Sent: 29 July 2011 13:12
To:
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Subject: thanks
Hi there I just wanted to thank you for your time and expertise the other day re our current proposals for time banking we have now finished the bid and will be submitting next week so we will let you know how we get on- really like what your doing at fairshares and very much see this a mode of good practice!
Kind Regards,
Chief Executive
(...) Housing Society
Robert
Robert is in his early 50s and has Learning Difficulties. He has been a participant of Fair Shares for several years. He started out helping people with their gardens and now helps out with one of the National Trust gardens.
He also has been delivering newsletters for us for some time and helps out at the Rural Cinema that we run. On one occasion when out delivering newsletters he was stopped by the local newsagent and was asked if he would like a newspaper round. Robert was delighted; his first paid job he had ever had.
"Paper delivery and helping out Fair Shares is more normal than the Club as they have slow learners there they are good clubs but this is more normal socialising with the community. Plus helping at the cinema. I just can't think of a better life than this."
Ruth
A local council passed on to us details of an 85 year old disabled woman who had lived on the ground floor of her cottage. Her home had been flooded. She had managed to drag herself to the first floor but she was not insured and needed help. We sent people out to remove sodden carpets and furniture.
A Time Brokers went to visit her to see how she was doing. She had not been out of her cottage for four months. It was suggested that she came along to one of or regular coffee mornings. She apparently broke down in tears. We regularly pick her up to meet with her new friends, who she also now talks to on the phone. She has a social network; she is no long on her own. Although we regard going to social events as participation, that was not enough for her; she wanted to give more back. She has turned out to be a great stuffer of envelopes!
Alan
Alan had developed Clinical Depression, had lost job and was hospitalised. He has been discharged to sheltered accommodation when he joined Fair Shares.
He found it very difficult to talk to people, so we started taking him dog walking with a group of participants. Many people, like Alan, find it easier to talk to others through the dog.
We then discovered that he had computer still and Alan agreed to help people set up PCs and to give some Basic training to access the internet. He could also drive; he used our van to help other move furniture or to give lifts.
His confidence began to grow. He was found a placement at a residential home for adults with autism. After a few months he was offered part-time work. Within a year this had become full-time. During this time he moved out of his sheltered accommodation, initially into a rented flat. With some support that we arranged on budgeting he realised that now that he had a good income, he made could afford to buy his own home. He moved into his new home, using our van and the help of other participants.
Over the 4 years that Alan has been working with us his confidence has grown. He has told his story at several conferences and went to 10 Downing Street, met the Prime Minister and told him all about Time Banking!
Noel & Nathan
Hi Shelley
I have just returned from a few days off to find that Noel & Nathan have both now got their bikes.I would like to say a BIG thank you from us all at Ivy Lodge for your help & encouragement to our 2 clients. Having the bikes means a lot to them & offers a mode of transport to get around & especially with the weather we are hopefully going to get, it may encourage them to get out & about more. The fact that they have both had to work for the bikes means a lot to them & see a reward for their time spent.
Please thank your team at FS & I have a couple more clients that FS may be able to help, in the near future.
Regards
Rob Jackson
Project Support Worker
Martin
I’m a life sentence prisoner and found myself stuck at HMP Gloucester waiting for a parole hearing. I decided I wanted to something constructive with my time and came to work in the bike shop. During my sentence and over the years I’ve found I’m quite skilled with my hands doing art, crafts, wood & metal work and most other things I put my hands to. So starting in the bike shop meant I had a chance to put a lot of these skills to good use, the first thing I found was that bikes had changed a bit since I was a kid, however I found it fun to make something old and tatty look good again. I then started to push the limits in what I could achieve with a bike and came up with the Dragon Bike idea, the chopper then arrived and again I had fun thinking and planning ideas for it.
I’m now waiting to go to a cat D prison, but I think I’ve put my time at Gloucester to good use and done some good work for the Charity which in turn is also doing some good work.
Over the last few months we have been able to help a few families through the scheme and the feedback we have had has been really positive. The most recent job we did was we helped out a prisoner’s family in Coleford. We sent up 3 new volunteers to help him in the garden doing a combined 18 hours volunteering that day. They hope to go up again after Christmas. The family were really pleased and phoned the next day to say thanks. One of the volunteers will use his hours to go to the gym and the others will prob use to come on the next few trips.
Make sure you get a good education and good jobs that pay well. Life in Prison is really bad because we have to work a lot and we get paid next to nothing. But I’m working with a Fair Shares project that fixes bikes up and they get sent to Africa to help people in need. It’s really good to know that the work I’m doing is helping other people, and it’s something that I’m very proud
Martin (on a DVD to his children)
Raihaan
salaams
Hi!
being a teenager i had a useless life except for going work, college, going out with friends and gym if i could be asked...bt when i heard about voluntary work and how it helps you be a better person in your life and how it shines on your C.V..i decided to do some voluntary work..
firstly when i started, i did it for d sake of something good to do in my life, but now i really enjoy on what im doing now!
I am known as an I.T person lol...but im jus a basic I.T skilled guy, who tries to figure things out and sometimes it does the job! :)
i help out at trust centre with people who need help learning and using computers at an old age. I feel really happy that im actually being of some use to help someone. where as before i didnt have no kind of interest in doing things apart from my old boring life.
i think i have changed a little in d past 2-3 months as i have been doin something usefull and something which is actually going to be worth doing.
Now about the Horse riding... when i was little i use to go on a horse ride with d guy holding d horse nd he jus takes us for a walk on d beach. but i always had a wish to ride a horse my self 1 day.. and when i heard about horse riding from Imran, as i told him im really interested and asked him to take me to the farm, he somehow fixed up a day to take me horse riding and also told me that cause of my voluntary work i have been doing, Fair Share are paying for my first four lessons worth £25 each.
I thank Fair share and Imran for giving me this opportunity from the bottom of my heart.
and Horse riding is amaaaaziingg LOL
thnks to all
Raihaan. I am 18 years old!
