Gwynedd bin men support their local hospital during Covid
NHS staff on the Covid Ward in Ysbyty Gwynedd were “chuffed to bits” to receive boxes of chocolates, biscuits and a £720 donation from three kind-hearted Gwynedd Council refuse collectors
For the whole of December Simon Jones, Darron Roberts and Terry Jones dressed up as Santa and his elves and instead of keeping any Christmas donations they received from kindly local residents, they gave every penny of it to Awyr Las NHS Charity. They raised an incredible £720, and the donation may help support Long Covid Projects in the local community, extra equipment on the ward and additional staff wellbeing programmes.
The three charitable co-workers also donated all the boxes of chocolates, sweets, jams and biscuits they received before Christmas to the hard-working staff on the Covid Ward at Ysbyty Gwynedd.
Darron Roberts explained why he and his colleagues decided to do something to help the NHS.
“The last two years have been hard for all of us, not least the team working at the Covid Ward in Ysbyty Gwynedd,” said Mr Roberts.
“We wanted to do something to raise morale not just on the ward but also for our local residents on our round.
“For the whole of December, we dressed up as Santa and his elves and it was lovely seeing the kids wave at us from the windows, and to see the smiles.”
Mr Roberts added: “Simon, Terry and I think our nurses are heroes. We can't give them enough praise and I feel they need to be more valued.
“What they have been through during this pandemic must have been incredibly difficult.”
“We’d like to thank everyone who has donated, it’s been brilliant and it has been great that we’ve been able to help a little bit.”
Debbie Jones, Ward Manager on the Aran Ward (Covid Ward) at Ysbyty Gwynedd, said: “I’d like to give a big, big thank you to Simon, Terry and Darron and to all the residents who have donated.
“It’s fantastic to feel appreciated and to recognise all of our hard work during this unprecedented time.”
She continued: “It has been terribly tough but we have an amazing team although understandably everyone's feeling pretty exhausted now.
“We look after each other as a team, and I’d also like to mention our incredible student nurses from Bangor University. They've been wonderful throughout all of this time.”
