Bullhorn Cares about Haven House Children’s Hospice
It’s a Tuesday morning, rush hour, but I am not rushing through the crowds to get to the office. Instead, I’m headed the opposite direction. Making for a less busy commute. I arrive at Woodford station where I have transport waiting for me. This takes me to what looks like a forest, within the middle a beautiful old house.
Wouldn’t you want every morning to be like this? This is what I experienced on my way to a charity day for work. At Bullhorn, every employee is encouraged to take part in a charity event four times a year. This time around, we partnered with Haven House Children’s HospiceChildren’s Hospice, a children’s hospice, to have a gardening day. We worked outside all day, enjoyed the fresh air and stretching the body. But apart from the benefits for us, we do it to help those that need an extra hand.
Fun Fact: The House is a locally-listed former family home, set in four acres of protected woodland where Sir Winston Churchill was a frequent guest and used it as his base during his visits. Its chapel was previously used by his team of secretaries but is now a reflection/prayer room in Haven House Children’s Hospice.
Haven House’s Care for Children
Upon arrival, we’re shown around the hospice to see how they operate. As you can imagine, it has a lot of special needs tools, like a visual drawing device for children whose mobility is limited and of course specialist sensory toys. They also have a sensory room to develop children’s senses through special lighting, objects and music. Children’s hospices are very different to adult hospices. The children don’t always stay overnight, but there are rooms for those that need to.
Haven House also takes care of any detail to assist families. It has a family flat provided for those who prefer to stay there for a few nights with their child. This provides them with a safe place during difficult times of change and stress. The staff of Haven House also support parents after they have endured a loss of their child. This is something which isn’t government funded and is costly. Therefore, any extra help counts and any company wanting to lend a hand is very welcome to raise funds for the hospice.
Bullhorn Cares
Bullhorn’s team returned to Haven House this year to help with the upkeep of the grounds and get it ready for the Summer Fair. You don’t need to be a gardener to contribute and it’s a great alternative for team building activities. Getting out of the office, being outdoors and making a difference! We strongly recommend other businesses participate in these volunteering efforts.
Bullhorn has a policy that allows its employees to take 4 days a year off work for our charity events that don’t count towards their annual leave. We have multiple partnerships built within our initiative Bullhorn Cares. Our partnership with Haven House is an ongoing effort, which has resulted in £1,610 in donations this year. We’ve raised the funds through sponsors supporting some of our brave employees who abseiled from the top of the UK’s largest sculpture, ArcelorMittal Orbit in Stratford. During our partnership, we have also raised funds to buy toys and equipment for Christmas. This made a lot of children happy and makes us excited to donate even more in the future!
Watch these videos of the children’s stories to get a better idea of the support Haven House offers to children and young people. If you’d like to find out how you can get involved, contact them here or email sarahpye@havenhouse.org.uk.
