Jerram Falkus supports Sustainability Exhibition at Antill Road Daycare

What a great afternoon we had last Wednesday checking out the Sustainability Exhibition at Antill Road Day Centre!

Located close to our Shetland Road site, Antill Road service is a local daycare centre for people with learning disabilities in the Tower Hamlets area.

Jerram Falkus made a donation to the centre, which was used to buy refreshments for the sustainability exhibition. We were delighted to be invited down to attend the event by the service’s Contract Manager, Dilara Begum.

The theme of the exhibition was “Reuse, Recycle and Sustainability Awareness” and there was so much creativity and innovation to be seen! It really is amazing what you can do with items you would normally throw away by recycling and upcycling them instead. Everything from crisp packets and cans, to discarded plastic PPE visors, can be transformed into a piece of art. Just ask the staff and customers at Antill Road Day Centre, who were the creatives behind it all.

Every year the service supports approximately 15 people, providing them with the care they need to make choices, achieve goals, and take control of their lives.

The centre is part of Look Ahead Care and Support, a not-for-profit provider of care and support services.

At the sustainability exhibition, we had a chance to sit down with Surayya Zahra, Customer Co-Production Engagement Officer at Look Ahead. Surayya spoke about the success of the event and enlightened us on what Look Ahead can offer its customers.

Tell us about the sustainability exhibition. What inspired it and how did things turn out?

The purpose of the event is for staff around the company who do not work immediately at the centre to come and see what the Antill Road Day Service is up to. The focus of the exhibition is on upcycling and creating more awareness of recycling, including considering how we can be more conscious of the things we use and the daily waste we produce. It’s a great exhibition for communities to come together and find out more about what Look Ahead is, what Antill Road Day Service does, and for families and customers to get involved.

The exhibition today has been funded by the Love Your Home competition. Services apply for funding, which after awarded, can be used to put together a project. The Antill Road Day Centre used their funding to create a greenery upcycling project. Everything that is on display in the exhibition has been created from something we have had lying around no longer in use, or from something that has been donated.

The production of the exhibition has been very customer-led which is awesome and staff have been at hand to offer support where they can. The customers have enjoyed getting involved with the painting and gardening and everything else it took to bring the display to life.

Do you find working for Look Ahead rewarding and if so, what parts of the job make you feel this way?

Personally, I find working for Look Ahead very rewarding. Working in this type of environment isn’t always easy, but seeing customers laugh or smile at the end of a long day is what makes the job worth it. Knowing that you’ve made that little bit of a difference to their day is what makes you come back each day, ready for all the challenges a new day will bring.

The most rewarding part of the job is being able to support customers in having a better quality of life, knowing that they’ve had a difficult time before coming to the centre. Seeing their day-to-day lives improve and helping them to build up their independence is a great feeling.

How do you feel like you make a difference to the lives of Look Ahead’s customers?

In my role as the Customer Co-Production Engagement Officer at Look Ahead, I go to different services and talk about customer empowerment. This involves communicating the importance of customer choice and control in the support that they receive. Support should be person-centred, as well as tailored to a customer’s beliefs and personal preferences. It makes everything worthwhile knowing that customers are happy with their service and the support that they receive. Knowing that they feel supported not only on a personal level but also a professional one and that they feel comfortable with discussing how they feel about the service, so we can work as a team to come to a resolution, is really important.

 

Jerram Falkus is committed to leaving a positive impact with the buildings we construct, the places that we work in and the people impacted by what we do. Our work goes far beyond the regulatory obligations and policies we are required to adhere to, with community engagement and social responsibility being an area that we endeavour to keep prioritising in the work that we do. The work that Antill Road service and the wider Look Ahead organisation does is truly inspiring. We are looking forward to working more closely with Antill Road service in the future, in order to show support for local communities.

Learn more about Anthill Road Day Centre here.

Learn more about Look Ahead here.

Find out more about Jerram Falkus’ Social Value initiatives here.

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