Cardiff maternity staff eggstatic after Easter egg theft donation
on 29 March 2021 MSWs - Maternity Support Workers Midwives Wales RCM Branches
A Good Samaritan has stepped in and donated Easter eggs to midwives, maternity support workers and their colleagues in Cardiff. The gesture came after Easter eggs destined for maternity staff at Cardiff and Vale University Health Board were stolen from the car of the Royal College of Midwives (RCM) Cardiff Branch Secretary, Sarah Spencer, last month.
The branch gives out little gifts to staff working on special days during the year. On St David’s Day there are Welsh cakes, Easter eggs at Easter and individual presents on Christmas Day.
“For Easter this year we were ultra-inclusive and included our gynae staff, obstetricians, anaesthetists as well as our midwives and support staff. As treasurer - and a very tight one - I was tasked with finding the best value Easter eggs. Fifty-five eggs in the boot of my Beetle was a feat that I didn’t relish trying to fit in twice, so I left them in overnight before going to work,” said Sarah. “Unfortunately, they were stolen from the car even though they weren’t in sight.”
Even though Sarah also had personal property stolen in the theft, her main concern was the disappointment of staff over the stolen Easter eggs, a reward for their incredible hard work during the pandemic. She took to Twitter to say how upsetting the theft was for the maternity team.
Sarah's stolen eggs tweet came to the attention of Cardiff-based Huntleigh Healthcare, who, noting it was Random Act of Kindness Day, decided to deliver their own random act of kindness. The company contacted Sarah and offered to replace the stolen eggs.
Sarah’s tweet was spotted by Darren Meilak, Huntleigh Healthcare’s Global Head of Marketing. “When I saw Sarah’s tweet that her car had been broken into, I obviously felt for her – it’s an awful situation to find yourself in. What really hit home, though, was the fact that it wasn’t the stolen designer sunglasses that she was most upset about, but the Easter eggs she had ready for her team. These were meant for all the midwives and support staff working over the Easter period,” said Darren. “At a time when those involved in the NHS are under immense pressure, the thought that those so worthy of our gratitude were going to lose out on a little pick me up, galvanised us at Huntleigh to see how we could help.”
The replacement eggs were presented to Sarah last week by Darren and Huntleigh’s Product Manager, Stacey Tyler. The eggs will be shared among the maternity staff as a treat for working over the Easter weekend, and they are all waiting eggspectantly for them.
Sarah said she was delighted to go and collect them and that Huntleigh Healthcare had not only upgraded the eggs to bigger ones, but actually given them even more, upping the number of stolen eggs to 65. “The small gestures make all the difference during these times. And it reminds us that there are really kind people out there,” she added.
Reflecting on their donation, Darren said: “It also just happened to coincide with Random Acts of Kindness week, but that wasn’t the primary contributing factor for making the gesture – it’s just nice to be nice.”