The residents at Windmill Lodge had an exciting day celebrating Pancake Day last week. There were tasty toppings for people to enjoy and the residents had fun testing their pancake-flipping skills.
An enjoyable day at the home, but the people living there like to celebrate the religious meanings behind the day as many follow the Christian faith. To honour this, team members invited a priest from the Corpus Christi Church to host an Ash Wednesday service with the residents.
No matter a person’s faith, Excelcare team members support the people they care for to keep up their hobbies and religious beliefs, as they help to maintain a person’s identity and positive wellbeing.
With many requests for a Catholic priest to visit, Father Gerard Balinnya came to host the service. As it was on Ash Wednesday, they told stories from the bible, spoke about the meanings behind them and how many Christians will be starting lent, a fasting period before Easter.
Father Gerard was great with the residents, addressing them as a group and also individually, which ensured everyone felt involved. There were smiles all around the room and everyone was happy they could take part in their celebrations from the comfort of the home.
Towards the end of the service, Father Gerard personally gave out the Holy Communion. This not only made it feel like a real service at the church, but also brought back memories from churches and services they have been to in the past.
Diane was a resident who attended and said, “The service was very nice and I really loved taking the Holy Communion.”
The residents really enjoyed the service, so team members will continue to invite religious people and organisations to host services with the residents.