A helping hand for healthy living.

A charity which supports older people and their carers has been given a cash boost by Worthing Radio Emergency Activated Communications (REAC) who donated £1,000 to Guild Care's healthy living appeal. Worthing REAC, which helps out at events in the town, is made up of volunteers who donate the money they make from marshalling, to local charities. Nominee, Lynne Kennedy, REAC's Secretary, chose the Guild Care charity because of her involvement in its home care department.

To Volunteer to help REAC as a volunteer, call Chris Gregory on 01903 268614

Worthing Guild Care will receive 1000 pounds. REAC will also donate 1000 pounds to Shoreham Lifeboat, plus the group has been able to give 1000 pounds to the Sophie appeal which has been set up to send Sophie ( who suffers from cerebral palsy) to America for an operation which will help her to walk.

All this means that Worthing REAC has managed to raise 4500 pounds to give to LOCAL Worthing charities because of the work done in 2009.  

Following our AGM our members selected four local charities to receive a total of 4000 pounds. The group later received some money for events done in 2008, so the donations for three of the charities were increased to 1200 pounds each.

Queen Alexandra Hospital Home received 1200 pounds, 200 pounds of which was used to purchase gardening materials to allow the residents to start gardening and growing their own vegetables which they would then cook themselves. When the manager of Wyevale Garden Centre, Littlehampton Road heard about the need for the gardening materials he very kindly offered a substantial discount which allowed us to purchase much more than planned. Our sincere thanks to him.

An initial donation of 1000 pounds was made to Littlehampton Lifeboat. The Honorary Secretary kindly invited REAC to their AGM, where we presented the cheque. We asked what our donation would be used for, and were told that the money would be put towards kitting out one new member and that to fully kit out one crew member costs about 1200 pounds. REAC donated another 200 pounds so that we have bought a complete set of kit for one crew member.

Sussex Air Ambulance appeal received 1000 pounds, and was kind enough to invite REAC to go and see their base. We will donate an extra 200 pounds when we go to see them in April.

The final recipient of 1000 pounds was the Worthing Hospital CT scanner appeal, we received a lovely letter of thanks from Ron Noakes.

Local volunteers from Worthing REAC drove up to St Barnabas House last week to deliver a donation of £1000 for the hospice. This fantastic amount comes from donations given to REAC for marshalling various events around the town over the last year. At the end of every year, once their costs have been taken into account, REAC members vote for local causes to receive a donation from the proceeds and St Barnabas was one of five charities to benefit from the volunteers' generosity.

REAC (which stands for Radio Emergency Activated Communications) originally started in 1979 in the days of CB radio, but now uses mobile phone and radio communications to assist local organisations with the marshalling of their events. Leader, Chris Greg ory, and his team help with around 21 events each year, often giving up whole weekends to provide their marshalling and communications service.

They have been involved with St Barnabas House's own events for a number of years, including the annual Fun Run along Worthing Seafront, which they have marshalled since its inception 11 years ago.

REAC's service is only possible because of the volunteers involved who generously give up their time to help other local organisations. They are always keen to welcome new members. Anyone can join the group – couples, individuals or families – and no experience of marshalling or radio communications is required. For further information, please contact Chris Gregory on 01903 268614.

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St Barnabas

St Barnabas is a charity whose aim is to provide high quality specialist palliative care both within the hospice and in the comfort of patients' homes treating adults with advanced progressive life-limiting illnesses. We offer a range of services - pain control, symptom relief, skilled nursing care, counselling, complementary therapies, spiritual care, physiotherapy, reminiscence, and bereavement support for families and relatives.

Patients in our care can expect to be valued and given time, to be accorded respect, privacy and dignity, to be responded to with empathy, especially when in distress, to be listened to and for communication to be sensitive and honest and, finally, to be shown understanding of individual beliefs, lifestyle and culture.

It costs over £4 million each year to run the hospice and only a small part of these costs are state funded. This means that the majority of the money has to be raised through voluntary donations from local communities within the Worthing , Adur and Arun areas.

Patients are never charged for their care at St Barnabas and we depend on the generosity of the public, local organisations, our network of Friends Groups and fundraising events and activities to help raise the balance needed to maintain the high standard of care and comfort we provide to our local community.

Contact:

Janet Parsons, Communications Officer, telephone 01903 524106

Email: janet.parsons@stbh.org.uk

Website: www.stbh.org.uk

Worthing CAB is pulling out the stops to improve access to its services by introducing a new ‘Gateway Strategy'.    The new strategy will ensure that all clients have a ‘Gateway Interview' that will ensure they are directed to the most appropriate help.

The new service will try to filter out all those who need minimal help, who need to be redirected to a more appropriate source and make appointments for the more serious issues that require more in depth attention.   It is expected to reduce waiting times and improve telephone response.

The new system depends on the introduction of new technology, for example the installation of information kiosks, new telephone systems, new office software.   Along with this, a long overdue reorganisation and refurbishment of the Duty Room is planned to ensure the new system works,

The whole package will require £15,000 to put it in place, of which £3,000 has already been raised by the Friends of Worthing CAB through various events.   It is planned to launch this new service in September 2008.

Worthing REAC (Radio Emergency Activated Communications) has given this fund raising effort a boost with the donation of a further £1,000 towards this project.    REAC has a long history of raising money for local charities by providing safety and security event management services.    With its origins in the days of CB radio, REAC has been active for over 25 years in the Worthing area and all members are volunteers.

Chris Gregory, Team Captain of REAC said:   ‘It is because some of our members have reason to be personally grateful for the service given by the CAB that it was recommended as one of the charities to benefit from our funds.   We are pleased to support such a worthwhile organisation and help it fulfil its aims.'

Bureau Manager, David Chapman said  ‘Whatever we may call it, Credit Crunch or recession, there is no doubt that it is biting hard on peoples incomes and causing much hardship and distress.    There has never before been a greater need for Bureau services and we are grateful for support such as this REAC donation.'

Both organisations need more volunteers. 
If you are interested, please contact:
CAB on 01903 532662
REAC on 01903 268614