Cards for Care Homes
Students and staff from across the University came together this festive season to write and deliver 2000 Christmas cards to Care Home residents around Edinburgh.
The project, which first started in 2020, by PhD student and staff member of the University's FASIC Sport & Exercise Medicine Clinic team, Julie-Ann Fooshee, aims to bring some cheer to our local community and to help brighten the day of residents, and especially those who might be isolated or lonely at this of year.
I started the project in 2020 and it was COVID, I realised loads of us weren't going to make it back home for the holidays with closures and border issues and I saw a couple of articles in the news about the Care Homes and how it was probably one of the most crushing times for them. People couldn't visit their family for safety reasons of course, and they couldn't leave either. So I got together a few students and we wrote maybe a couple hundred cards and took them to a handful of Care Homes in Edinburgh with some biscuits for the staff. It seemed like the nicest thing we could do to be part of the community and really show up for others in such a dark season. We dropped them off at the door waved through the glass and ran off, just like Santa's Elves.
Unfortunately Julie Ann was too unwell to complete the project in 2021 but in 2022 over 500 cards to be written and delivered.
know there's lots of people in care homes that might feel isolated by the holidays, or may not have anyone to come see them. My grandmother was a big card writer and mom still is and I love that it's a bit of a dying art in the digital age; but it's so nice to just have someone think about you enough that they took the time to hand write something. I know it's small, and it may sound cheesy but it's become one of my favourite Holiday Traditions here. I'm really grateful that the Equestrian Team has put up with me hauling in a bag of cards every November and December going "alright it's that time again!
This year, the project was partially funded by the Edinburgh University Student Association, Student Opportunities and Development Fund and Julie Ann with the help of the University Equestrian and Snow Sports Clubs and, students from across the University and staff members from University Sport & Exercise and Edinburgh University Sports Union staff wrote and delivered 2000 Christmas cards to Care Homes across the city.
Related Information
- Student Opportunities and Development Fund (external link)
- Coverage of the activity on STV (external link)