Saltburn care home residents are flush with success after a fundraising campaign to twin their toilet with a Tanzanian community.
Residents and staff at Hazelgrove Court Care Home, on Randolph Street, organised a series of activities to raise funds for charity Tearfund’s Toilet Twinning initiative.
The programme gives participants the opportunity to raise funds which help to provide safe water, improved sanitation and hygiene education in some of the world’s poorest communities.
After choosing to twin their toilet with a community in Tanzania, residents and staff got to work raising the required £60.
A scavenger hunt for cartoon characters sitting on toilets took place around the home, with each character featuring a number and a word which, when put together, revealed the tongue twister: “Ten tiny turtles took the toilet to the town.”
The home also downloaded and hosted the Ready Set Flush quiz from the Toilet Twinning website, testing residents’ knowledge of sanitation and water use around the world.
Resident Anne Clark, 89, was delighted to win the quiz. She said: “I cannot believe the average person uses 57 sheets of toilet paper a day. I have all my family counting now.”
The idea for the fundraiser came about after Sharon Lewis, activities coordinator at Hazelgrove Court Care Home, contacted Redcar and Cleveland Twinning Association to ask if Saltburn was twinned with a city.
Sharon said: “Unfortunately, Saltburn is not officially twinned with another city, but the association did say you can twin your toilet. So this is what we did.”
She added: “We don’t think twice about flushing the loo or washing our hands but for millions it is a luxury they don’t have.
“According to Tearfund, a thousand children under five die every day because of dirty water and toilets. When our residents heard about this they all agreed our toilet had to be twinned.
“By twinning your loo you’re helping families in the world’s poorest communities build a healthier future. It helps people learn about hygiene and health in local classes, have access to safe and clean water and get materials so they can build their own toilets.”
Resident Barry Taylor, 86, said: “It is great to have raised the money to twin our toilet as it helps those who are less fortunate than us.”
Resident Sheila O’Neill, 86, was so inspired by the project that she suggested the home should do even more. She said: “We have more than one toilet in Hazelgrove. We should twin them all and help all the poor children.”
Sharon added: “Although this is a very serious problem, we have all had fun raising the money, especially with the answers to the quiz. Now we might take Sheila’s suggestion and twin all our toilets.”
Stuart Lee, global fundraising and communications director at Tearfund, said:
“A massive thank you to everyone at Hazelgrove Court Care Home for getting behind Toilet Twinning.
“Their incredible support is helping us tackle a huge global issue – around 1.5 billion people, or nearly one in five worldwide, still don’t have access to a safe, clean toilet. The residents here are showing us all how simple actions, like twinning a loo, can truly change lives.”