On Wednesday 26 June, the Transcend team took a day out from the world of corporate finance, to spend the day at the Acorns Childrens’ Hospice in Selly Oak, Birmingham.
Acorns Hospice provides care to babies, children and young people aged between 0 to 18 years, with life limiting or life threatening conditions, along with support for their families.
The Transcend team reported for duty at 9am, armed with gardening gloves and hedge trimmers, ready to take on the day ahead. The team were fully briefed by Dee McCann (Volunteers Manager), who gave us some insight into what the hospice does, and the types of families they work with. We learnt about the services provided, and how families benefit from the service during time of illness, and also following bereavement.
Following the briefing, the team were then straight to work in the centre and garden. The energy of the Transcend team was outstanding, with the team partaking in: decorating, house-keeping, raking leaves, trimming hedges, sorting out garden tools, bedding and watering of plants, weeding and washing plant pots.
The centre and grounds were certainly spacious, with the entire team working all the way to 4pm!
Steve Bartlett, Partner at Transcend, commented, “This is the fourth year we have volunteered at Acorns, and we are delighted to support such a fantastic organisation. The care and support they provide to children and families is second to none.”
In 2018 alone, Acorns supported over 787 children and more than 1,223 families, including those bereaved.
It was encouraging to see a number of volunteers from all walks of life, all with a common purpose – to support users of the Acorns service. What certainly came across to us, was how the Acorns team truly believe in the service and are so passionate about helping its young people. As a team we found the experience extremely inspirational and we hope to keep in touch Acorns in the future.
