Charity at healthcare rm

At the start of each year, healthcare rm select a charity to donate to that is close to our hearts and supports our beliefs. Using employee suggestions, last year we chose a charity that we felt was a perfect fit.

The Wiggly Worm is one of Gloucestershire’s leading food charities. They run courses and workshops in local communities where people learn practical kitchen and cooking skills, or simply share and enjoy a meal and friendship. Projects include one-off community sessions, weekly courses and longer-term learning programmes for individuals and groups across Gloucestershire and South Gloucestershire.

Since the introduction of COVID-19 pandemic national lockdown restrictions in March last year, Team Wiggly have had to suspend face-to-face cooking workshops. Instead, with the help of a team of wonderful volunteers, team Wiggly have cooked over 9,000 meals for those that might need a little extra help feeding their families or those who have been unable to go out for food whilst ‘shielding’.

They have also re-invented their work and are now busy running live ‘cook-alongs’ for individuals and families as well as adapting their longer-term learning programmes into an online format. This includes their 3-day #OfCourseWeCan events for young people with learning disabilities to connect with each other and learn basic cooking skills and nutrition. Their online projects have been a huge success, connecting young people through food in a difficult time; and they’ve been able to access participants from all over the county that may otherwise struggle to attend face-to-face sessions.

Joanna Scott, Operations Director, The Wiggly Worm said: “At the Wiggly Worm we work with people of all ages, abilities, and backgrounds, including those with additional needs and vulnerabilities. We enable everyone in our community to benefit from our cooking sessions by adapting the courses depending on participants’ requirements”.

It gave us great pleasure to announce to them this month that following employee donations through dress down Fridays, bake sales and much more, our donation was over £5,280!

“We give our heartfelt thanks to healthcare rm CEO, Dr Pamela Gellatly and her staff for their incredible efforts fundraising for our charity during these difficult times. The money will go towards continuing to develop our online courses and delivering our in-person workshops when we can safely get back in the community kitchen.” Joanna added.

healthcare rm CEO, Dr Pamela Gellatly said “What is really heart-warming for us is to be appreciated for the little that we do – so thank you Joanna for your kind words. We believe that The Wiggly Worm is providing a critical service to the local community. As we have experienced over the last year, increasing age, excess weight and poor health have exposed many to being more vulnerable to Covid-19. Yet these risks are similar to what exposes us to disease and ill health and can cause heart disease, type 2 diabetes, mental ill health and much more. Understanding more about what we eat and how to cook fresh, nutritious food is at the heart of good health. Combining this with the social enjoyment of friendship is key to good health and good wellbeing. Thank you The Wiggly Worm for all that you do.”

For more information about The Wiggly Worm visit: www.thewigglyworm.org.uk