Kind-hearted Llandaff resident Gaynor Llewellyn-Williams has rallied the local community and been making regular donations of food and snacks to both Rookwood Hospital and St. David’s Hospital.
Gaynor, who lives not far away from Rookwood Hospital regularly sees staff going to and from work so she decided that she wanted to do something to help them during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Gaynor said: “My house looks out on to Rookwood Hospital, I see staff going in and out changing shifts, I often thought I’d’ like to do something to help them but I wasn’t sure what that would be.
“I’ve got a shop in Llandaff North, and since we’ve been in lockdown it has been closed.
“I saw on Facebook that the smaller hospitals like Rookwood weren’t receiving many donations, so I thought I’d do something to help.
“I put a box on my drive where people could leave donations and I put a message in the Heathcock WhatsApp group so that if people wanted to help out with food and snacks they could leave it in the box.
“It all started from there. I’ve been overwhelmed by peoples kindness and I have been able to make three deliveries of snacks to Rookwood each week since we started. I even drop fresh cakes into ALAC when we’ve got them. My granddaughter helps me to pack up the bags and boxes of donations – she loves to be involved.
“I saw that St David’s Hospital also needed help and now we’re delivering twice a week to them.
“We deliver, food and snacks such as fruit, cakes, crisps and chocolate – that kind of thing to the hospitals.
“Llandaff Covid Facebook Group also wanted to help with donations, so we joined up – it’s been a real community effort.
“I just wanted to give something to the staff to show people were thinking about them. My son was born in St. David’s Hospital so it’s lovely to be able to give something back to them for their care.
“I’d like to thank the Heathcock group for their continued support, SPAR in Llandaff for collecting donations so we can continue to deliver to St. David’s and Rookwood and also My Loaf in Llandaff North for their generous donations of fresh cakes.”
Simone Joslyn, Head of Arts and Health Charity at Cardiff and Vale University Health Board said: “I’d like to thank Gaynor and the local community of Llandaff for all of their hard work in donating and delivering food to Rookwood Hospital and St. David’s Hospital. In times like these it’s lovely to see everyone coming together to help our NHS staff.”
To find out more how you can help #SpreadTheLove during COVID-19 please visit: www.healthcharity.wales or you can make a donation here: https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/spreadthelove