Hairy Bikers' Meals on Wheels

Hairy Bikers' Meals on Wheels has joined forces with BBC Learning and a range of organisations across the UK to showcase thousands of volunteering opportunities that help older people. They have teamed up with Do-It.org.uk to help potential volunteers find opportunities local to them. The Cinnamon Trust has long been a supporter of Do-it.org.uk and we use it to publicise our appeals for volunteers in some of the most difficult areas of the country where volunteers are hard to find.

The Hairy Biker’s Meals on Wheels mini site is part of the BBC’s website and has a list of charities helping the elderly that need volunteers and The Cinnamon Trust has been lucky enough to be one of the featured national organisations. You can also search the Do-it database for opportunities near you.

As well as posting our appeals on Do-it we also broadcast them on Twitter every day you can follow us every day at @CinnamonTrust .

Gulliver Travels Again

A Journey to find the Gulliver Ancestors

We are lucky enough to have some very talented volunteers and one in particular is Susan Clarke. Susan has written and published her book tracing her family from both the current family back and from the Norman Conquest forwards. Some of the proceeds of every copy sold will go to The Cinnamon Trust and the book is available through Amazon.

Appeal Success

Last week I started to ‘tweet’ our urgent volunteer appeals. I am pleased to say that we have enrolled one new potential volunteer directly from these tweets. A ‘typical’ case requires about five or more volunteers for a number of reasons. Many volunteers can only offer one walk a week because they have busy lives themselves. Volunteers need time off for holidays or family commitments and everyone can fall ill.

A typical case is such a thing actually exists needs a small supportive network of volunteers so each volunteer does not feel that they are shouldering the entire burden and if for any reason they cannot commit one week it is not a problem. Some of our appeals are in areas where we do already have volunteers but they are already at capacity and we need to bring in more volunteers to support them.
It really does not matter if you feel you can only volunteer for a single walk a week, or you think you go away too often. Volunteering will help lighten the burden of everyone and may make all the difference, like to old saying goes “Many hands make light work”.

If you would like to volunteer you can download the volunteer registration form today.

How to contact us about an appeal

Yesterday I mentioned that along side our online appeals we also use local newspapers and just by chance yesterday in the HemelToday the Cinnamon Trust was mentioned. Like so many local and national newspapers they have their own online newspaper and they have also mentioned us on their website.

In this particular mention they did not include a telephone number, email or website address. The best way to contact us about any of our appeals is through email and the website. If you do want to respond to any of our appeals you can ‘phone us in 01736 758 707, email volunteer@cinnamon.org.uk or download a volunteer application form from the website http://www.cinnamon.org.uk/volunteers/

If you feel you can help then please get in touch. You can also pass these contact details on to anyone you know who may be interested.

Volunteer Appeals

We are always looking for new volunteers but it is often the case that where we have the greatest number of cases is also the area where we have the fewest volunteers. On our volunteers page we have a map with pins to highlight where we urgently need volunteers. Not every appeal is for dog walkers, In Birmingham right now we are looking for help with transporting pets, fosterers and dog walking. At the moment we have 31 urgent appeals for volunteers running and we are using a combination of local newspapers, posters and online advertising to highlight these cases.

One of the ways we advertise online is through the Do-It.org.uk website. This website lists thousands of volunteering opportunities across the country and you can search by town or postcode and how far you are prepared to travel etc. We list all our opportunities for volunteering under the ‘Animals’ category and we update this at least every two weeks. So far this year we have welcomed 57 new volunteers through sites like Do-It.

Follow us on twitter at @CinnamonTrust

If you are interested in Twitter then you can follow us at @CinnamonTrust where we have over fourteen hundred followers (and counting). You will be amongst the first to learn about updated appeals and events. Obviously we really appreciate it when our twitter followers retweet our appeals and spread the word beyond our regular following and help in bringing new volunteers to the trust.

Tale of the Day

OLLIE, OLLIE, OXEN FREE

When we ran a special appeal for more volunteers to help walk bouncy little Ollie, an energetic 2 yr old Jack Russell, we were delighted by the enthusiasm of our newest volunteers. Ollie’s mum Barbara, 75, is overwhelmed. Having limited mobility she is so grateful for the help of The Cinnamon Trust volunteers and would like to say a heartfelt “thank you!” to James, Jane, and Melanie.  Ollie is so much happier now he’s out and about and having a run -- and Barbara is really enjoying meeting and having a chat with some lovely new people!

Jane was over the moon when we told her that we had accepted her application to help walk Ollie. “You can start right away, Jane!” we told her. “Oh, fantastic!” she said. “Can you still hear me? I’m dashing about looking for my wellies as we speak!”

Ollie adores his 90mph walks with Jane  -  they go out for about an hour and he’s very pleased with himself after  hurtling around the river, across the field and snuffling around some very huge shrubs. He’s so full of energy that he still manages to have a bit of puff left for James and Melanie when it’s their turn on his walking rota!!

Jane, James, and Melanie have all said how much they have enjoyed meeting Barbara and Ollie and how they’re looking forward to their new walking routines. We think Jane said it perfectly when she told us:

“If only every day could be filled with such simple pleasures as walking a buddy! And to think that less than 5 days ago, my world was minus an Ollie; now its full of it and I do thank you all at The Cinnamon Trust for this opportunity; I'm permanently wet, my legs ache with all this galloping around and I've never been more smiley!”

Tale of the Day - Lasting Flame

The story of Sid the dapper, long haired ginger tom is full of love and loss. Poor Sid’s first home was lost when Sue died. His grief was added to when Sid’s companion cat, Cosmo, died shortly afterwards. Sid would have been alone but he had the Cinnamon Trust, thanks to Sue.

Then Sid’s luck changed when The Cinnamon Trust stepped in and our lovely volunteer Sri became his long term foster mum. Sid never quite forgot how quickly things can change. We quickly found him a lifelong foster home with CT volunteer Sri. He blossomed and flourished, he was always in the thick of things and loved cuddles. He loved supervisory duties with Sri’s grandchildren (play monitor), and he was always purring and chatting and he really was a hero.

Sri wrote:

“He saved us and my house from being engulfed in flames.  One night as I was going to sleep I heard a slight noise but thought nothing of it, but Sid was behaving so oddly and refused to settle on the bed as he usually did. I finally said, "Ok, Sid, let's go see what is happening," and found that a light socket was in flames and the fire had spread to the door.”

Then Sid, aged 8 by now, got cancer. As a long term foster cat of course The Cinnamon Trust stepped in immediately and took care of all of his medical expenses . . . and made sure, together with Sri, that he had the very best of care right until the very end ( just as The Trust had promised Sri, and his first loving owner that we would).

Sri said:

"A day before he left me I told him he would go and see Cosmo in heaven, and repeated Cosmo's name a few times and his eyes became saucer like and he purred and purred."

He was a beautiful, chatty, loving cat who missed me whenever I was out for more than a few hours and is very much missed by us all.

Tale of the Week

EBONY AND IVORY

When Ebony’s owner died this 10 year old poodle, who had been a city girl all her life, had no idea that she was about to retire to the country.

Tireless Cinnamon Trust volunteer Maggie (dog walker, short term fosterer, transporter, recruiter, and cat carer!) who had been Ebony’s dog walker was happy to take Ebony to her lifelong foster home with Phil and Sue out in the countryside. Maggie told us:

“I stayed for an hour or so to make sure she was settled and to pass on all the information I could. Ebony roamed about, going upstairs and generally exploring her new surroundings. The house is delightful and just across the road from a beautiful wooded area with bluebells and lots of interesting things to explore. They are only a five-minute walk from the beach.”

I called them the following day to see how the first 24 hours had gone. Suffice to say they are completely in love with Ebony and she is clearly the apple of their eyes. Phil rang me on Wednesday to give me an update. Apparently they can barely walk her because everyone in the town wants to stop and say hello to her. Ebony is eating well, sleeping well and is apparently generally very happy. I am sure Irene would be delighted with this arrangement, knowing that Ebony is loved and contented. I am also sure that Ebony will never forget Irene.”
 
Ebony’s new mum wanted us to know that “Ebony is a right old character and a fantastic addition to the family. She’s so lively! And she’s settled in beautifully!”

Just watch out for those pristine ivory chair covers, Ebony! There’s a good girl!